Jaune's Fall from Grace
by The95will
Summary: Jaune Arc always followed the rules, he kept it that way until he was booted from Beacon. Coming home a failure isn't something to proud of. Before leaving the dorms a letter appears on the doorstep. Its a shot to return but involves robbing banks and other jobs. He will have help, and the choice is simple. He crafts the mask for the task at hand. This will be his Payday. RWBY
1. Chapter 1, The Heist

**Sup people, I'm a fan of the web series RWBY and I thought of Payday when I saw the symbols for the characters. Also I like to offer song ideas with my stories. There are two songs for this which are "**Search and Destroy**" from the Operation Darkness soundtrack and "**Anti-You**" by Blue Stahli.**

**First song link:** watch?v=2pvWUcY-64I&list=PLYWSsSED4tGWH8SfXW38vg_JMvY8HFi_Y&index=2

**Second song link:** watch?v=sF3aZyNDF1Q

**Thank you and I hope you enjoy**

The clouds in the sky concealed the sun from the street below. Vale has been a country known for its cities and those who live in its borders. In the country as well was a bank of the Schnee Corporation. It was created to avoid fees from other banks and keep their revenue.

A woman in a yellow suit entered the bank. She looked around inside, the tellers masking their frustration, the people bored in line, and the security guard slacking on his job. The woman wanted to smile to this sad excuse. She walked to the closest couch, set her purse down, and began to read a newspaper.

Behind the desk, the teller was seeing a young man with a green silk suit and asked to see a manager for a business venture. On his right shoulder was a black bag. The lady at the desk was completely at a loss of words as she stuttered in his presence before her.

"Um right this way sir."

"Please don't call me sir. I'm younger than you." The man gave a gentle pat on her back.

The yellow suit woman looked on ahead and saw the lady completely enthralled. _Sucker_, the yellow suit woman thought. Before long the young man was in the back with a manager.

"Can I help you?" The manager asked with his cheap wrinkled suit.

"Thank you, I would like to say I have an idea to propose on a twenty thousand lien investment on dust combat gear." The young man leaned back in the manager's spare chair in front of the expensive desk.

"Isn't that something more for the military?"

"No, they take it give me scraps while the rest of the world will counter engineer it after a year."

"I'm not sure about that." The manager scratched his chin.

"Well, can I ask you to do something else?" The young man stood up and walked behind the manager.

"That being?" The manager asked while a M1911A1 pistol was digging into his back.

"Call all employees to the break room?" The young man spoke with no emotion.

"I uh can't do that." The manager's mind went everywhere.

"Well you better before the shooting starts. Don't you want to save their lives?" The manager gasped and nodded. The two walked side by side as the manager called the intercom for an emergency meeting.

"Hey Tammy, it's time to see the boss." One employee passed the tellers. One by one all employees were brought to the back.

Above the building was another woman with a heavy bag pulling out heavy machinery. She was wearing a pink suit and laughed at pulling away the control panels. Tapping in the wires sparked as the woman ignored the pain and continued because she was on the clock. Eventually all the lights went out inside the building. Everyone looked around.

Customers in line murmured to themselves. By now all the employees have gathered. The man with the green suit wore a black mask with a white flowers and pink outline. The break room was the size of large kitchen with one table in the center with way too much room for more tables to be added. The manager stood at the opposite side of the room as one employee took out his lunch and began to eat his sandwich. The young man stood at the window which was behind the manager. The man with the green suit walked the window and placed strange blocks that beamed read lights. The green suit walked to the closest air vent and jumped to place another block beside it. He opened his bag and showed his gun.

One of the male employees noticed the weapon and screamed. It could have almost broken the sound barrier. The customers heard the cry as well as many tried to find the source. There were only seven of them. Annoyed the man fired a round at the ground.

The customers ducked down as one was still standing being engulfed in terror to move. Everyone prepared to leave the bank as a woman in a pink suit stood at the entrance, with a grenade launcher along with two bags at her back, one full one empty. She lifted her Vector submachine gun at the crowd.

"Get down on the ground." The woman in the pink suit ordered, her face covered in a blue mask with a hammer and lightning on the bridge of the nose.

"You better do what she says." There was another woman with a pistol _clicked_. She was covered in a mask as well. She was in a gold mask with red spear through pointing to the top left.

"What's going on?" The manager stammered.

"What else? This is a robbery." The man used his free hand and tapped his collar. "All clear, you can enter." The green suit man looked over the group of people. "That bag on the table is full of explosives, those lights are trip wires, touch the blocks, and they will trigger the bomb. When I leave this room there will be a bomb on the door, any of you try to leave the bomb will go off." The green suit tossed something on the ceiling and it was a rotating block with a camera.

"That will monitor you, do not test me." All the employees did as they were told and sat alongside the edges of the room and laid down. The green suit left walked outside and there were loud thumps on the door.

"Ready, come on in." The green suit walked to the entrance, along the way he passed an open door with three unconscious security guards laid on top each other with zip ties on their wrists and ankles. That was the woman in the gold suit's work.

"You took care of them as the power went out?" The green suit asked.

"Yep, the woman kneeled down and opened the full bag. She reeled out a CM901 assault rifle and gently tossed it to the woman in gold. The pink suit passed out body armor to each of them. The bag was still heavy and made her way to the vault.

"Can you get the door for me please?" A voice asked over the comms.

The pink suit walked to the backdoor and released the locks. In came a heavily armored suit with a M60 LMG. His black mask had two golden crescent moons in the center. "Let's go to work."

The pink suit nodded and jogged to the vault, it was reinforced steel. She chuckled at the sight of it. Removing the rest of the back was a thermal drill that needed to be placed together. She did was give another bag by the large armored suit with a black top with navy blue pants.

"How long?" The armored suit inquired.

"Eight minutes, tops." The suit began to piece the drill together.

"You got six." The armored one walked to the entrance and took control of watching the civilians.

Three minutes passed as nothing happened; the green and gold suits patrolled the bank. The emergency lights lit up as with no alarm.

"What's going on?" The armored suit pressed his ear.

"The vault has an automatic separate system. When the door is being tampered with it set security off automatically." The pink suit shouted back.

**Play the first song**

_This it was going too well anyways._ The armored suit thought. "Alright just open the door and be ready to move."

"Roger that." The pink suit responded

The armored suit waved his arm at the green suit. The green suit looked back at the civilians. "On your feet, come on." Everyone did as they were told and brought into the break room with the employees. None of them said a word.

"They're in the room, how much time do we have?"

"Thirty seconds before any police show up." The green and gold suits took cover behind the teller stations, and the armored one set his back to the wall of a pillar in the entrance.

"I'm almost through." The comms updated.

By then the sirens are in ear shot, the flashing lights gleamed off the buildings. Two heavy black trucks split open as two dozen combat droids came online. Each with a standard assault rifle or sub machine gun. For every squad of droids would be one human captain. They took cover behind the droid trucks.

The armored suit broke the glasses and aimed outside. The street was empty as the droids took formation.

"I'm through, loading the bags now." The pink suit updated.

The M60 peaked out of the window. The armored suit took a deep breath. The birds no longer chirped when the cracks of gunshots broke the air. He aimed at a squad of three and each fell apart with fragments going everywhere and sparks of the exposed insides. Wires flickered as the police returned fire.

The green and gold suits returned the favor as they fired as well. Bullets split the air past the armored suit, with that happening he kept firing. The sparks ignited the air and bullet casings rained. The first wave of droids was disposed of.

Thwhiping in the air suggested there would be a mini helicopter giving a bird's eye view of the heist.

The green suit at the skylight. He fired several rounds at the helicopter but made sure to miss. He just doesn't want them to be too close. The heli dipped in flight and backed off.

"The bags are ready, let's move." The pink suit appeared and began to fire with her UMP at the street; all the cops took cover with a new truck of droids arriving. The gold suit broke from cover. The green suit looked about as two droids dropped from the ceiling behind the armored suit. Green fired several rounds into the glass of the teller stations and jumped through the weakened glass.

The two droids gained their posture and one aimed directly at the armored suit. The green suit used his right fist to knock the forearm of the droid to the ceiling. It fired and it was it was elbowed in the helmet by green. It laid flat on its back as it lost its grip on the gun. The second droid used the stock of its gun and punched the green suits mask. Ignoring the pain the green suit ducked in to have the droid lean in as well. The green suit took this opportunity to punch the droid directly in the center of the body and it was lifted in the air by the force. The green suit did a right uppercut then left uppercut and when his right hand was low he grabbed his pistol. Aiming directly up the suit fired a round into the helmet of the droid. He jumped up as well and twisted his whole body then reversed kicked the droid out of the windows.

"Alright on your go." The gold shouted as she took aim from the teller station.

The green suit nodded and he sprinted to the value. The first droid did a complete pushup and the pink suit ran to it and with a fierce amount of force the helmet was punted off. Then she slid to the pillar of the armored suit.

"How's it going?"

"It's not the time to be talking." The armored one place his back to the wall and began to reload his M60 for the second time.

"All of this will afford me a lot of pancakes so that is the best part about all this." The armored looked at her. She rested her left arm on the pillar. A droid stood at the entrance so the pink suit quick drew her M92F and shot in the eye. "Totally worth it."

"I've got my bag, now let's move!" The green ducked down and took cover behind the desks.

"Now it's my time to appear on the stage." The pink said while she ran outside, her aura was burning brightly as the gold suit watch her from a window. Using her polarity ability she used it to have the bullets miss her.

Pink rolled forward and her right arm was straight with her pistol and grenade launcher in her left arm in a 90 degree angle. She fired the pistol three times to take one droid down and fired the grenade launcher to take out a squad. She jumped forward to the center of the street as a squad of droids swarmed her. She threw the grenade launcher in the air for a moment to reload her pistol and when the launcher came back down the pink suit grabbed it on the stock. She brought it close to her right shoulder and swung it to her left as it changed into a hammer knocking the squad of four droids break in the air.

She looked around to get a view of their attackers. Everything planned to arrive did. A droid on top of a truck tossed a grenade at her. "Batter up!" She laughed with her hammer at her side. Focusing her vision she hit the grenade and it was sent back to the droid. The grenade exploded in front of the droid. "And it's a home run!" The pink suit sprinted back to the entrance using her grenade launcher to fire thermal smoke in all directions.

"We got more droids heading this way."

"Alright, time to bug out." The armored stood up. He jogged to the vault as the gold suit tossed him a bag of money.

"We better leave now, that helicopter will make this impossible." The gold suit took cover beside the door. She took a peak outside as there was nothing.

"Clear," the green and pink suits made it out. The armored suit was halfway there as the ceiling blew open with a bulldozer class droid emerged from the dust. "Just get going I'll catch up." The armor shouted.

"But Jaune."

"NOW!" The droid brought its arm down like a sledgehammer as the armored suit raised his right forearm as the padding transformed into a shield. He kneeled down in time as the force was absorbed by the shield.

Dropping the LMG the armored suit pulled out his sword out of the shield. In that moment Jaune shoved the bulldozer back. "I'm ready."

The bulldozer circled its right arm to Jaune's left arm which held the shield. Pointing his sword to the ground he reeled in front of his stomach and it in a crescent motion her brought the sword up. It severed the fist of the bulldozer, sparks were flying. The bulldozer lifted the second arm as it was a built in cannon. Jaune didn't waste any time as he slammed the sword into the barrel and charged the bulldozer to the vault and pulled out his sword with it toppled backwards. In the vault was nothing but plastic explosives surrounding it. Jaunt ducked from the opening as the tremor finished off the bulldozer.

Jaune had to hurry because his mask was cracked and that isn't a good sign. With his sword sheathed his sword and picked up his M60 and typed in an emergency code. The gun was morphing into a green gel and it self-destructed. He sprinted out of the door with a bag on his back.

_I really hope Pyrrha and the others are alright_. Jaune thought when he walked outside in the back. The crew reacted quickly enough and the police didn't seal the back exit off.

**Play the second song here**

Jaune continued to sprint as he made to the end of the alley. He peaked out to see Ren and Nora gridlocked with a bulldozer as Pyrrha fought droids. Jaune sprinted forward

Pyrrha's CM901 shifted into a spear while she wiffed the air with it. The closest droid was impaled and Pyrrha lifted it up in the air with no difficulty and tossed it at two more droids. Unhooking her pack on her side was two grenades and she tossed them far ahead using her polarity to extract the pins. By the time they arrived at the next squad, the droids were all blown up. An officer appeared in smoke.

A detective by the looks at him and in his left arm was a morning star and a bulky right boot.

"Are you okay?" Jaune appeared behind Pyrrha.

"Yeah, we're almost there."

Behind them was an explosion and Ren and Nora walked away from the wrecked bulldozer. "Great job, take care of the droids and clear a path."

"Gotcha'." Nora responded over the comms.

The detective jogged to them as Jaune readied his sword and Pyrrha walked to droids and pulled her spear out. The two regrouped then the detective was on top of them. He wore a completely grey suit with a fedora hat. He gave it a tip and started to spin the spike ball around as it lunged forward at them. They saw it their attacker so two side jumped in opposite sides and the detective choose to go after Jaune first. The brought a black bulky boot down as it knocked all the air out of Jaune's lungs.

Coughing there was a kick on his left hip as Pyrrha came in for the assist. She did an array stabs with her spear. The detective kept back stepping and eventually he brought his Morningstar up and spun it rapidly at the end until it was wrapped around Pyrrha's spear. He gave a slight smile and pulled Pyrrha close then punched the center of her mask and gave a foot attack as Pyrrha dodged his boot. The pulled his spear back this time and jumped and double foot kicked him and landed on her back. The spear became untangled Jaune lifted her onto her feet.

The detective double jumped up back onto his feet and made a click with his Morningstar as the chain extended further. In it he kicked it then tugged the chain for the spiked ball to halt and then he started to swing it round and round. So in the moment Jaune walked in front of Pyrrha and he dashed forward as she tossed her spear again. The detective kicked the ball and spun around having the chain wrap around his body and spun in the opposite direction for the ball to smash into Jaune's shield. He jumped up for a downward slash for the sword. The detective kicked the chain back up and split it apart to the sword to be blocked. Pyrrha came in from the sky again and before she could strike the detective he stomped the ground having him jump up to avoid the attack. Pyrrha jumped twirled in the air and Jaune set both of his fists on his shield and amplified by his aura he sent her into the air. She leaned forward and her polarity sped her circling and when she caught up to the detective he was dumbfounded. Pyrrha smiled and she did a durable downward kick. The detective was sent to the ground and dust from the area puffed. When it cleared the detective was knocked out, the fedora was wrinkled and landed on top of his face.

Still spinning Jaune used his arms to try to catch her and she landed perfectly. Jaune's mask began to split open. He quickly set her down and looked behind her. The moons were cracking and so Jaune had to hold his mask together with his right hand.

"Hey guys, we're ready."

"Copy." Pyrrha smiled under her mask. The two sprinted to the next alley to see Ren reloading his weapons.

"One more group of droids, I'm tired and that means the same thing for my aura." Ren rubbed the front of his mask.

Pyrrha's spear shifted back into her assault rifle and she took cover at the corner. Nora passed her Vector to Jaune. Both of them took the time to pick off the closest droids.

Ren got back to his feet and sighed.

"Don't worry I got it Ren." Nora peaked from her cover and shot two shots of thermal smoke and they sprinted to their getaway of a blue van with a robotic driver. All four of them loaded into their van and closed the door, after thirty seconds the van broke from the smoke and drove onto the highway. After a long fifteen minute chase the van was run off the road and a squad of humans surrounded the vehicle. In heavy armor the door was popped open. There was nothing inside but the driver bot.

In the sewers

"Great work everyone." Jaune exhaled with a heavy burden being uplifted. By now his mask was broken fully so he was the only one without his.

"No worries (gasped) we didn't even (gasped) break a sweat." Ren gave a thumbs up as he leaned on a wall. He lifted his mask and took a deep breath.

"Great work on disabling the security system and jamming communications." Pyrrha complemented Nora.

"It was nothing, it is in the under the rocks on the roof, it will go dark in several minutes. Also I've adjusted the security to be wiped as well."

Ren removed his mask with had him with more of a Caucasian appearance and tapped his collar to return to his real appearance. The crew continued walking and they made it to the docks as there was a two boat and two cars ready for them. By now night has fallen over Vale. Each of them removed their gear and placed it into their bags. Jaune walked in front of the crew.

"Excellent work, everyone. For now, we go dark." Each of them said their goodbyes. Ren took a car and Nora a boat.

"I'm Pop Eye the sailor gal." Nora shouted before she started the engine.

Jaune walked to his car and pressed the button for the doors to unlock. "Hey Jaune." Pyrrha called out to him with her scarlet hair freed from the black cover.

"What is it?" Jaune turned around.

"I'm sorry for what's happened. It was stupid for Beacon to have kicked you out on what Cardin did." Pyrrha stood there with her eyes giving a hint of sadness.

"All of you have a good chance to do something with your lives. I'm just getting on by just fine." Jaune stood straight and he did a hero's pose. Standing with pose, it was obvious that he didn't have the confidence to back it up.

"Well we did rob the bank of Roman Torchwick. That'll make him pissed." Pyrrha looked at the ground. "I'll try to clear your name and have you back in Beacon before the end of the first semester."

"I'm very grateful. You better get going." Jaune didn't want to keep her; there is an army of cops looking for them. Pyrrha said her goodbyes and took a boat to leave the city and reenter with a car of her own.

Jaune opened the car and sat down. "Are you here?" He asked looking into the rear view mirror.

"Of course, I see you're alive." A woman with black dress appeared. This was a very dangerous woman and she sat in the back on the opposite side of him. In the distance were two distinct individuals, a young man in grey hair and a woman with dark skin with tortoise hair.

"The bag is here and you can take it. May I please have my payment?" Jaune took out his gear and placed it in the passenger side of the car. The woman nodded outside while the other two probably her enforcers, walked to the car. The guy grabbed the bag and when "_hmm._" The guy gave a look of _really?_ No one really took the time to take Jaune seriously.

When the guy left an envelope tapped his left shoulder. "As promised." The woman smiled that made Jaune's spine tingle in her speech. He opened it with a testimony of Cardin admitting that he lied and he was expelled as well. This will allow Jaune to return to Beacon.

"Thank you very much, Miss Cinder Fall." Jaune started the car. The woman didn't leave the car, she gave a gentle smirk. "Um, do you need something?"

"Nothing in particular, please drive me to the New Vale hotel please." Cinder relaxed her back and stared outside.

"Sure." Jaune proceed to pull out and drove the speed limit to her destination. _I really hope this isn't some 'tying loose ends' thing._ Jaune thought.

Cinder looked outside the window. "Well Mr. Arc, I have a proposition for you."

**Wow that was fun. I hope you've enjoyed this venture. I will come back to this if people like this story. I thought it would be cool to make a "out of their element" story hence PayDay. The teams are skilled at killing Grimm and I wanted to add crime master to that list for Jaune. Please tell me what you think and please give a review.**


	2. Chapter 2, Returning to Beacon

**Welcome back, I've given it an all of thought and decided to return to this story. It is a nice idea for me to work with and I hope you'll enjoy the ride. Whenever someone reviews to my story I will respond to the previous chapter on the bottom. Now let's get back to the crew.**

Morning came and the as the shattered moon faded into the blue sky. Nothing was better than this, Jaune took a deep breath. He stood before the entrance of the public airship was preparing for liftoff.

_Now if I could only make one step_, Jaune pondered in his mind. Seeing that this was the final obstacle he took the first step and walked to the center. He stood there waiting for anything to happen… and nothing did. Adjusting his shoulder with a bag holding his belongings. Jaune looked outside the window and it was clearly off the ground breezing past the clouds.

Jaune stood a bit taller and took another deep breath. This is a new beginning and grand one with a Jaune that isn't going to back down one and that will- "Hey there vomit boy." Jaune's world shattered as Yang and Blake were on the airship as well.

Judging from their uniforms, they were waiting for him. "Good morning girls." Jaune bowed like a performer.

"It's been awhile since I've seen you so enthusiastic." Black yawned and fanned her mouth. Jaune lowered his bag and placed it against his leg.

"I don't know why, but I just feel… better." Jaune looked over their shoulders and didn't see anyone else. This was the early bird time to travel so not many passengers were onboard. "Where is the rest of your team?"

"Back at Beacon, they have morning classes and we don't. Also Miss Catnap here apparently has a difficult time walking up in the mornings. Ever one had to go to class and honestly I'm a bit surprised you didn't tell your team." Yang made a fist and decked Jaune in the arm.

"Ow, that hurts." Jaune's arm burned as he tried to rub the pain away.

"That was for also keeping a secret from us." Yang was ready to punch him again but she stopped midway as Jaune stood there unflinching to her attack.

"It wasn't something I wanted to tell the world. I have to make up the work in four weeks and I plan to do my best no matter what the cost." Jaune stood tall and didn't give any false confidence.

"Come on Yang, I had a secret that I wasn't too keen to share either." Blake placed her left hand on Yang's shoulder. Looking of her shoulder, Yang noticed Blake's bow was shifting around.

"I guess you're right but his secret is different." Yang returned to Jaune.

"I'm sorry and that is all I can say." Jaune relented then lowered his head.

Yang sighed. "I know I shouldn't be mad, you put your heart into Beacon and it would be a shame for the future to lose a wonderful Huntsman." Yang wrapped her arm around Jaune's neck and lowered his body. "But you got a long way to go, like the rest of us."

After that they caught Jaune up on what mostly happened while he was away for the month. During his time away, Jaune was in a hotel that Weiss was kind enough to provide. Jaune didn't spend any more money than he allowed her to. Jaune made sure to leave false contact information for his family. Jaune couldn't bring himself to admit what happened to his family. If he did, he expected all of his sisters telling him to just come home. He knew each of them missed their pack mule.

Jaune was excited to return but didn't know what to expect. He didn't inform his team because it would distract their day and they don't need to deal with their sorry moron of a _leader_. Jaune asked about Ruby and how she was doing. According to Blake, the first week of his absence was most difficult. Everyone couldn't really talk at lunch; Ruby couldn't eat when they were told what happened. With time, her team supported her and was equally as happy when she learned of his return.

"Well that's great to hear." Jaune said as Beacon came into view. The airship landed and as the light pierced the opening. Blake quickly tapped Jaune's shoulder having him turn around.

"I just needed to distract you." Blake turned Jaune around again and at the entrance were two poles with a banner. "Welcome back, Jaune." Below the banner were Ruby, Weiss, and the rest of Team JNPR.

Yang was the first to leave the airship. "Did you really think they wouldn't welcome you back?"

Jaune took one step as Ruby was already hugging him. "I'm so happy you're back."

"Thank you." Ruby let him go as Jaune exited the airship. Weiss was the next one to approach him, she smiled and in the flash, she slapped him.

"Yeah, I had that coming." Jaune admitted as he reeled back and was smacked with something on his chest. It was paper by the feel of it. Jaune looked at Weiss.

"It's a bill you freeloader. The debt will be dropped when you become a huntsman."

"Duly noted." Jaune gave a thumbs up as Weiss stepped aside.

"You owe me a lot of pancakes." Nora looked at a Jaune in the eye and she winked. She walked to Jaune and she stomped his right foot.

Jaune kneeled down. "Ow."

"Oh I'm sorry. Was that too much?" Nora looked around. Pyrrha walked beside her.

"Not enough I'd say but I think we all hurt him enough." Pyrrha walked to Jaune and punched him in the jut. "After me of course."

Jaune coughed and he stood tall again. "I ready for what you got Ren."

Ren walked up to Jaune and how with his right hand he set it at Jaune's face. Jaune was braced for it and Ren was emotionless. Then finally a fist was made and it a blink of an eye Ren flicked his finger on Jaune's forehead. "Now I feel better."

"Now that everyone has their fill of hurting me, can we please get to the dorm, my first class starts in thirty minutes." Everyone laughed as team RWBY told JNPR that they'll see him again for lunch.

"So how's it been?" Jaune asked as the group entered the school.

"Been okay, after you had to leave the dorms Pyrrha here took over as team leader. None of us wanted to have you be replaced so we remained as a team of three until today." Nora gave the load down. Ren remained quiet as the group walked into the halls. Many of the students watched from afar. Several disgusted looks, several angry, with others completely neutral.

"I see the school body learned about me as well." Jaune looked at the ground.

"Don't worry they don't know what to think, rumors mudded the truth so you don't have to worry too much about it." Ren jumped in.

Jaune just nodded as he returned to the dorm as the team reached the dorm. Jaune needed to change and everyone decided to go to their classes. Pyrrha stuck around until Ren and Nora weren't in sight.

"Are you worried about what happened?" Pyrrha tilted her head.

"No, I was expecting something much worse. I knew this would happen." Jaune laid out his clothing.

"Well, if you need anything, let me know." Pyrrha left the dorm. Jaune looked at the closest clock, twenty minutes left. Jaune changed his clothes as there was a knock at the door. Jaune did some old casual dance walk like in some old cartoon.

"Hello?" Jaune opened his door as it pushed complete opened by the guest. Jaune remembered those burning eyes and crimson dress.

"Good morning, Mr. Arc." Cinder entered the room walked to the center of the and absorbed her surroundings. Jaune closed the door immediately as no one seemed to be with her. Cinder seemed comfortable and she sat down on a chair in front of a desk. In her left arm was a small bag.

"What do you want?" Jaune didn't have any malice or fear in his tone, he was mostly concerned over why is Cinder here.

"My, my, this is a lovely room, others are usually so untidy but this one is quite different." Cinder hid her motive quite well, she's a skilled deceiver. Jaune looked at his bag, inside was the very mask he used for the robbery two weeks ago. Sure the mask was split in half but it was replaced with an even stronger mask. _I really don't like where this is going_.

"We try to keep it clean as much as we can. Ren and I grew up around women. He had Nora and I have my sisters." Jaune looked at the clock with the minute hand informed him that fifteen minutes left.

"Lovely." Cinder leaned back on the chair her arms drooped on the armrests. With women as Jaune was forced to learn is that some just relish speaking in body language and liking for those around them to be mind readers. Cinder is no exception, her expression was that this room is now her palace.

"I know what you require and I'm sorry. I don't want to part of your next heist or whatever." Jaune analyzed the situation. On his belt is his sword and shield. It takes two seconds to draw his equipment and three seconds for the shield to deploy. The door will take five seconds to open but jumping out the window will take only two seconds. The air was still at a dropping needle will be loud.

"I was expecting you to say that, the offer will still stand and you just need to ask me whenever you're ready." Cinder left the bag on the desk and she turned her back to Jaune for a moment as he just stood there, doing nothing.

"You really know how to keep yourself under control." Cinder looked over her shoulder.

Jaune just chuckled to himself. "Normally, I'm not but I can be when the situation calls for it." He admitted as he circled around the room and walked closer to the wall without a window.

"You can tell you're sniper on the roof of the school to move their crosshair away from my head please." Jaune bluffed.

"Well done. The next job is all here." Cinder lightly gestured to the bag and looked out the window. With her right hand she two finger waved out into the sun. _Oh man, I'm so glad I didn't move._ Cinder opened the door and with it she was ready to close it. "You'll be doing a lot of good." The door closed.

Taking the risk Jaune walked to the bag and zipped it open. Inside is an semi-thick envelope of standard paper size. Jaune was tempted to look it over but he noticed the clock and the class stars in seven minutes. With the envelope in hand, Jaune placed it inside with the rest of his textbooks. He hurried along in the halls to Professor Port's class.

_This wasn't supposed to happen. I'm back at Beacon and trouble comes literally knocking at my door. How will they take this? Will this be a simple or complicated job?_ By the time Jaune made to the class as it was starting. A majority of the students were talking among themselves.

"Welcome back Mr. Arc." The instructor spoke quietly so the class wouldn't notice. "Please take a seat, I don't like to put the rumored students on the spot." Port made an effort to lift his burly eyebrow with his right eye and winked.

"Thanks professor." Jaune said as the class moved on. The room was lucky enough to have Port ramble on about something of the older times went the technology was different. So by now it was plenty of time for him to open the envelope under the desk and slowly took out the first paper and placed it among his notes.

On top of the first page was a lightly taped sticky note. "Reveal this and we will know about it." Jaune rolled his eyes as he removed the note to read the contents. The job this time is another heist but this time it's going to happen at… _WHAT_! Jaune stood up from his seat and widened his eyes. Still trapped in the world of his mind he realized how much of a scene he's making for himself.

"Well Jaune, what do you have to say from the expanse of government with the council system."

Jaune quickly eyed the board. "It was created with the intent to be for the citizens of their prospective nations. Each of them has three chosen individuals for the councils." Jaune BSed the question.

"Um, you're not fully correct but you're onto something. You may be seated." Professor Port turned to the rest of the class and asked the class for a more in depth answer.

Jaune sank into the seat. _I can't let this happen, that will end my life and the rest of the team. What am I supposed to do_? Jaune leaned forward with his hands over his face. For the rest of the class Jaune chose to write down everything on the board to his notebook until the bell rang. It was time for lunch.

Jaune exited the classroom and to his surprised Ren was waiting for him. "Hey boss."

"Oh hey Ren." Jaune looked around and didn't see Nora anywhere. Ren read the gesture and started to walk.

"Nora isn't here. I just wanted to talk to you." Ren gave a slight follow me wave.

"Um thanks, I'm heading to the cafeteria, you heading there as well?" Jaune kept his textbook with the envelope inside close to his person.

Ren nodded to Jaune and the two walked through the halls side by side. "I know you've been feeling guilty and I that isn't good for your mental health. I wanted to let you know that I don't blame you for your entrance to Beacon." Ren kept looking on ahead. Jaune couldn't think of anything to say as Ren decided to continue.

"We've all want to be here, everyone works for their goals and this school is part of this mentality." Ren and Jaune stood outside ready to walk into the cafeteria. "You're back and that tells me you want to be here. So, Jaune are you ready to fight for your future?" Ren looked Jaune in the eyes.

With those words, Jaune uncompromisingly stood taller. "Yes, I want to be here and I'll fight for it."

"Great." Ren opened the doors to see both teams gather at the table where they usually sit at. Blake waved as the rest of the teams noticed the entrance of the guys. Jaune and Ren sat down and both noticed the lack of Ruby.

There was a slam on the table and on it was of a huge stack of papers on the table as Ruby had it labeled as the best day ever schedule. "Ladies, gentlemen, Weiss."

"Hey." Weiss snapped.

"Four score and seven years ago, I had a dream." Ruby started to shake her hands as if she stood on a podium.

"This'll be good." Yang joked as what happened next would become the most grandest of food fights in the history of food fights.

Ruby stood up from her move that practically ruined the whole cafeteria as the headmistress showed up to repair everything with her wand.

"Children please… don't play with your food." The headmistress grinded her teeth with flames in her eyes and waved her wand around. Jaune was the first to fall from the wall and landed on his chest. Wiping the food from his eyes, Jaune noticed in the distance was Ozpin and Glynda Goodwitch. Miss Goodwitch seemed to be angry at the groups but seeing Ozpin's lips move it had Glynda calm down a bit.

"Aw man that was fun." Yang laughed. The rest of the food on JNPR was pulled away from their clothing thanks to Miss Goodwitch. JNPR and RWBY walked out of the cafeteria with two more following them. But they went back to the transfer dorm.

The rest of the day went well and everyone returned to their dorms. Jaune walked to the to the rooftop to get a good view of the moon. Jaune watched to move beam off the vibrant lights into the night sky as the stars danced. Pyrrha didn't seem him sneak off as her and Nora left have fun with team RWBY. Ren enjoys the room free of noise and decided to crack open a book. Little did to Jaune's knowledge was that Ren was reading Jaune's comic books.

Jaune sat down on his folded out jacket. Footsteps appeared on the concrete and a figure sat beside him. "Enjoying the view?"

"Yes I am. How about you Cinder?" Jaune kept looking at the sky.

"There's beauty in everything. You see the sky differently than I do." Cinder hand her legs angled together as she laid them in a "L" shape.

"I've thought about what you're asking me." Jaune broke from the sky and turned to Cinder. "I can't help you."

"Pity. Well I will just have to inform the local law enforcement of your recent endeavors." Cinder pulled her communication scroll and on it is a picture of Jaune with a bag entering a car. Along with the picture played audio of Jaune talking to Cinder on the drive to the New Vale Hotel. As the audio played the scroll also showed pictures of JNPR leaving the sewers.

Jaune looked down at the ground. "You made your point. But I'll help but under one condition."

Cinder raised an eyebrow. She wasn't expecting Jaune to ask for anything. "My team cannot become involved with your activities. Do that and I'll help you." Jaune returned to his feet and stretched his hand for Cinder.

"Fine, but don't get carried away with demands." Cinder accepted Jaune's hand as she was lifted from the ground. Cinder's eyes stayed the same way when she first showed herself. Confident and unwavering.

Jaune didn't like of where this may lead. "So when do we start?"

**I really like this chapter. The tone for this story is still going to action, the RWBY characters all involved in some way, and a little of me personal flair. If you're wondering about the food fight, it's a tie in to the first episode of Volume Two of the show. I'm thinking of changing the name to the story "Jaune's Payday" or should I just leave the name? Tell me what you think of the story and have an excellent day. Thank you for reading.**

**Insanity Run: **Thank you for coming and the kind words. This story came to me and I didn't want to let it pass and with this chapter, I guess I've committed myself. I'd like to be a good writer not just for me but for the readers to understand the story as well. I'm trying to improve my editing skills and I think I've improving. Just by reading the chapter, I'm going to continue the story. Thanks again and have a (Puts on shades, then **Explosion**) Have a badass day.

**You are right… NOT:** Thank you for reading.

**Animegirl 144: **Phew, (Needlessly wipes forehead.) It was grammar I messed up on. I'll keep trying to improve myself. Fight scenes are something I love to imagine and plan out. The details are for the reader as I'm worried that if I don't give enough details the fight scenes won't be as much fun. Yay, the story is somewhat interesting, and I'll do my best. No need to label yourself as a stickler for Pyrrha's name, I'll be sure to edit that when I post this chapter. I'm sorry but Jaune is caught between a hard place and a chance of being burned by Cinder. I hope you like the chapter and have a great day.


	3. Chapter 3, Armored Van Takedown

**The battles of RWBY are a staple of the series and I hope to keep that effort in my stories. Fight scenes are just so much fun. Now let's continue.**

"We start right now." Cinder stood up and quickly brushed herself off. The tiny pebbles fell off her clothes as her hand seemed to have a tiny breeze of smoke as she wiped her clothes.

"Fine, the next job will be a quick one right?" Jaune checked the area to see if no one was watching. He lowered his voice then he quickly walked forward and leading Cinder to the door with his hands on her shoulders. Cinder wasn't caught off guard as Jaune didn't have an expression of ill intent.

"The walls have ears." Jaune kept looking behind and watched to see if anything happened. The concern wasn't completely odd as Cinder shoved Jaune back. His chest felt the warmth that she had. Her expression was a blank one but Jaune's experience with women was enough for him to know Cinder was quite upset. He lifted his hands away from her and submitted to any kind of punishment. _I really hope someone can identify my corpse_. Jaune contemplated.

"I'm so sorry Ms. Cinder." Jaune didn't not stutter, he talked clearly and firm in his tone.

The young woman contemplated the apology. "Don't let _anything_ like that happen again, am I clear?"

"Crystal." By now Jaune lost his confidence with a goofy grin and his eyes were of worry.

"Moron." Cinder said coldly as she paced toward the staircase. "The next job will happen tomorrow; be ready and come meet me at my team's dorm." And like that Cinder looked ahead and left the staircase.

Jaune leaned his back to the wall and released a heavy sigh. _I really need to work on my people skills._ Taking a moment to heave for air, Jaune stood straight again. He made one more glance at the moon and decided to return to his dorm. His stroll was brief and during so, he mused about the possible effects of this situation.

At a four way intersection of the halls, Jaune turned to his right and there stood Cardin. He stood in front of Jaune in his armor of choice. They stared at each other as Cardin's team gathered around to berate Jaune.

"Hey Jaune."

"Hey Cardin."

Both of them did nothing. Without facing the situation, Jaune walked past Cardin. It wasn't a shove or a move of malice. Taking two steps the teammate with the Mohawk lifted his left foot high enough for Jaune to fall forward. Gravity did its thing as Jaune ignored the fall.

"How about you watch where you're going?" The teammate chuckled.

Cardin watched as Jaune lifted himself from the ground. The whole time, Jaune felt a growing boulder nudged between his shoulders, but nothing was there but air. Without looking back, Jaune kept walking until he reached his dorm. Jaune used his key to enter the room without waking his teammate Ren. Right beside him was Jaune's favorite comic Deathpool. Making a silent laugh, Jaune moved the comic away from Ren and placed it beneath the bed and walked to his bed. Jaune stared at the ceiling thinking about nothing. The moonlight gleamed through the windows and Jaune since he was little always preferred the night. Using the private time, Jaune carefully arranged the documents given to him by Cinder alongside his textbooks and classwork. Jaune finally took the time to study the potential jobs ahead. Each with their own risk and questionable motive. He kept reading for an hour as he rubbed his eyes at the end of it. Accepting the calls of his mind, he brushed his teeth then lay down on his bed. That night he dreamt of nothing.

"Wakey wakey!" A loud voice echoed pulling Jaune away from tranquility. Widening his eyes, Jaune rose from his bed. The loudest and happiest member of Team JNPR was out and about. Today class for Jaune the evolution of combat with Professor Port, then a history lecture with the energetic Dr. Oobleck, and dust chemistry with Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch. Not to mention his deal with Pyrrha, to train some more this evening. _Is that a still a thing? I should clarify with her later_. Looking over to the desk, everything that related to Cinder was tucked away in his backpack before he went to sleep.

"What going on?" Jaune looked to the digital clock to the room in the center. "It's 6:30, class doesn't start until 9." He yawned.

"Ah ha, that is where you're wrong, do you really know what time it is?" Nora smiled so brightly the sun could be jealous.

"Please do-" Ren pleaded.

"What time is it?" Jaune didn't hear Ren fast enough.

"Now you've done it." Ren rested his head down.

"It's pancake time, so get up and help me." Nora said to Jaune as she shook Ren's shoulder. "Come on upupup."

Jaune laughed to himself. This reminded him of the time where his youngest sister tried making breakfast for the whole family and nearly caused a fire. Jaune was the first to wake up and fine a mess of eggs, a stack of burnt toast, and his tiny five year old sister standing on her tip toes with a white chef's hat. He helped her the rest of the morning and received the blame for the mess. Now that little girl is twelve and cooking is her favorite hobby.

Ren looked over shoulder to see Jaune and noticed him wearing a pink apron with a white heart in the center. There was a white hat, and a glum expression of how tired both of them were. "She's not going to stop. So let's get started."

Ren rubbed his eyes and nodded. The three started and made plenty of pancakes as they finished Pyrrha entered the room from her morning exercise. Opening the door she saw Jaune with pastry on his cheeks as Ren and Nora where on the ground eating their meal. Jaune shrugged and passed Pyrrha a glass of orange juice.

"Rough morning?" Pyrrha said smugly.

"No, just living a memory." Jaune took off the apron and walked to his drawer and took out clothes for the day. Everyone did the same when they finished the breakfast and all of them left the room at the same time. Each of them separated and when they did, the scroll from the night before was ringing. Jaune checked the caller ID and there was nothing on it.

"Hello."

"Be ready to go when lunch is being served." A male voice ordered then hung up. Afterwards, Jaune went through his routine and started his classes hiding his emotion and everything went smoothly in Port's class. Ducking out before anyone could talk to him, Jaune hastly ran to the dorm, packing his equipment and made it to the airship station. There a man with long side burns was there waiting and drove an airship to meet the rest of the Cinder's team. With a short flight of five minutes, the airship hovered over a small building as Jaune had to fast rope down to get on the roof. Emerald was waiting and waved off the pilot.

Lunchtime.

"Get ready, there won't be any second chances." Jaune overheard as he pulled his mask of his head. It was the one he used in the bank hit a month earlier. In the driver seat, was Mercury in a grey suit, and wore a blank black mask. Underneath the mask was his a ski mask hiding his hair and other features. Jaune looked down as the semi-truck started. The Atlas military corporation preferred to have important information transferred physically rather than digitally. So with that, they don't take security of lightly. Armored trucks, fitted with the finest metals, security with DNA, and the self-supplied amount of metal soldiers. So today, they will break one and steal several secrets.

"The Truck is heading your way in thirty seconds." Cinder stated over the radio. As Jaune arrived he was given an earpiece, clean communication for the dirty work. Cinder is providing support, Emerald is on reserve so that leaves Jaune with Mercury.

"Ten seconds, go." Mercury started the truck and pulled out of parking.

"Anything on your end Emerald?" Jaune asked.

"Nothing, a city is nice enough to provide false comfort." Emerald kept is short and resumed watching the area of operation with her binoculars.

Soon an armored van came into view; Mercury hit the pedal as the truck charged at the van. Jaune was worried about his personal safety in the crash about to be made. The engine revved up as they there was a second of calmness. The truck was inches from the armored van. The forces clashed, glass twirling in stillness, and the tug of power. When it ended, Jaune blinked as his head was down on concrete, shaking the pain away, Jaune stood up with his MP5 sub machine gun. With this job as well, Jaune didn't wear any armor but just a vest with a suit he brought, taking the serious risk for maneuverability.

Mercury wore the body armor as well and he had Kevlar plates on his knees and his left arm as well. He wasn't carrying any two handed weapons but just a Glock 18 with extended magazines. On his feet however were two custom boots that pack some sort of weaponry.

The van was pinned to a wall and the semi-truck. In the front of the car were two droids. Mercury wasted no time and jumped on top of the armored van and looked down as he applied heavily weaponized thermal dust cylinders on the roof. Jaune kept an eye out and didn't see anyone respond quickly.

"The van is sending a call, hurry!" Emerald spoke quickly.

Mercury was taking a while so in Jaune's back pocket he pulled out an ECM jammer. (It disrupts signals in a small location.) Jaune placed it below the van.

"Great, it's halted by the police heard and are sending a squad car to check it out. You have forty seconds." After Jaune heard that he checked the front side of the car seeing that the droids were disabled.

"Get ready!" Mercury shouted as he jumped down. After five seconds, the top part of the van blasted in gas and steam. Mercury jumped up again and Jaune followed as well. Looking around inside Mercury discovered one human passenger with a droid missing arms. Inside was a man with a GenSec uniform. This was going to complicate things

The man took out a small handgun and aimed upward. _Crack_. Mercury kicked his arm aside and the man cried as the kick broke his arm. Mercury looked through the van. Jaune sporadically scanned the area with nothing in sight still.

"What's going on in there?" Cinder inquired with a hint of frustration.

"I'm looking for the documents, nothing's here but a thermal safe with a DNA lock.

"I trust you'll know what to do." Cinder said calmly.

Mercury looked down as he pulled the man by the collar. "Is your hand the key for the lock?" Mercury didn't relent in his voice; intimidation was a strong factor with masks.

"I...I...I."

"Screw this." Mercury raised his boot and before he could sever the man's arm, Jaune jumped down and shoved Mercury away. Before Mercury detested, Jaune kneeled down and looked at the man. He kept his mask angled downward.

"Do you have someone you love?" Jaune got to the point.

"I...I... I have a daughter. She's all I have left." The man looked down.

"I promise you'll get to see her again. Just open this lock and you will see her again." The man continued to be hesitant. "We are not here to harm you. Please open the safe and you will live."

The man couldn't find his voice but he nodded. In ten seconds the man opened the safe then sat down and cradled his broken arm. Mercury grabbed what they wanted and exited the car.

"You did this against your will. You won't be persecuted for the crime. Just wait here when help arrives." Jaune looked outside then back to the man.

"Can I say something?" The man stuttered.

"Shoot."

"You're in the wrong line of work. Get going. These vans are automated to send signals as it doesn't check in every five minutes. I didn't see ANYTHING at all." The man leaned his head back.

Mercury waited as Jaune exited the van. "We have thirty more seconds. Cinder somehow had the cruiser take a detour." Mercury had a small bag on his thigh. Jaune nodded as he pulled out his ECM jammer. The battery was almost dead.

"What's the escape plan?" Jaune panted.

"No time to explain. Just MOVE!" Mercury shouted. In the distance a couple of people noticed the pinned van. One moved her arm, this was a cell phone. The call was made.

Mercury kept leading the way as the two kept running as they kept running through vacant alleys. The run was dragging on and on for four more blocks.

"How much time do we have?" Mercury panted.

"Twenty seconds, after that there is plan B." Cinder informed.

The two kept running until Mercury suddenly stopped. He checked the area then opened a dumpster. "In, now." Jaune responded by keeping his speed and jumped into the opening and lay on his back and Mercury followed. The two waited for ten seconds as a loud engine roared the dumpster was moving. There wasn't anything beneath them as the doors of the dumpster opened and with gravity, the two fell into a dump truck. The smell and rancid, from what looks like a box inside was molded food. Probably frozen then tossed out. Maggots crawled out of the food.

The dump truck was the getaway. I drove for the longest time until the top opened again, with the bright sky and Jaune carefully checked the area. No army of law enforcement was there to end them. Jaune looked down. "It looks clear."

"Good, now let's get out, the smell is going to kill me. Jaune crawled out of the truck then kneeled down to pull Mercury out. Taking his hand, Jaune pulled Mercury out of the truck. The two walked out and jumped down from the truck. Low and behold, Cinder and Mercury waited for them.

"Did you get what I needed?" Cinder pulled her head back a tiny bit as the smell was still strong.

As it was down the man with the sideburns jumped from the truck and started walking out to the exit.

"So, are we in the clear?" Jaune fixed his mask.

"Cool mask, is that what you wore for the bank hit a month ago?" Emerald's expression was that of with great interest.

Jaune kept looking at Emerald; he didn't say anything to her and looked at Cinder. "Can I go now?"

"Hey jerk. It was a simple question." Emerald stood in front of Jaune. Mercury's body language was that of anger as well. Jaune lifted the mask upward to reveal his face.

"No, the first one cracked apart." Jaune pointed out as he lifted his hair back slightly to reveal a tiny scar at his hairline. Jaune took of his jacket, masks, and body armor. He gave the armor and weapon to Mercury.

"Can I go back to beacon now?" Jaune asked looking at Cinder.

"Yes, we're done for today." Cinder made a light gesture to point toward the exit; the man was waiting to take a small airship back to beacon. Jaune nodded and walked to the man to leave. All of this took forty minutes to pull off. The time for lunch ends in five. Jaune was no longer in view.

"Is that guy really worth the effort?" Emerald patted Mercury's back then immediately regretted the decision. She waved her hand around to hopefully remove the smell of trash. Mercury gave a look of "really?"

"Don't question my judgment. But to answer your question, he is." Cinder walked to the exit as the other two followed.

Beacon, fifteen minutes later.

Jaune quickly changed his clothes and washed his hair with shampoo with a bottle of water. He left his locker with his smelly gear and sprinted to class. Opening the door as slow as he can, Jaune entered the room and Headmistress Goodwitch noticed his entrance.

"Mr. Arc, need I remind you of how you must be on time." The entire class stared at him, among them was Ruby. She excitedly waved at him. Jaune looked down at the ground then took his seat. The rest of the class returned to the headmistress' lecture. As the class moved on to basic study of Grimm.

"Psst." Jaune looked from behind to see Ruby.

"Where've you been since lunch, all of us wondered where you were?" Ruby leaned in ever so subtly.

"I wanted to practice on my skills, alone." Jaune blinked as he said that.

"Oh okay, maybe one of us can help you sometime."

"Sure thing Ruby." Jaune continued to take notes. It went smoothly from there with an blinking light on his scroll, Jaune opened up to see a news article of a raided armored van. The surviving security man didn't see anything at all as the whole event confused police. More details coming by the hour. Underneath the email was a message. "Great work today, you were there in case of anything happened. You helped greatly in this situation. Good day." –C.

As soon as Jaune finished the email, he deleted it. Looking to his right was Blake and Nora.

"Hey Jaune, the teams were thinking of getting some ice cream from town, wanna join us?"

Jaune slid the scroll to his back pocket. Goodwitch's class was the longest one as she taught two subjects and so she marked for the end of the day.

"I'd love to." Jaune stood up to walk with the two.

**Hi there everyone, I made a new chapter of JNPR's payday. I guess this wasn't as so actioned packed but no every job has to have great amount of violence. I hope you've enjoyed the story so far.** **Man, RWBY ended on an odd note. I in no way hate the series and I still love it. The thing with all the sub-plots, the characters learning what they want to be, and there's Neo. All cool in their own way. I hope for Volume 3 the creators will do trailers for JNPR like they did for RWBY in the trailers. How awesome it would be for Jaune to have a fight we all wanted to see, how we want Jaune to evolve. Eh, just a thought. Thank for reading and have a great day.**


	4. Chapter 4, White Fang's Vanguard

**I've learned to might be a PayDay movie. If so, that's awesome. The story is gaining traction, so let's keep going. :-D There will be two songs for this chapter. The first is "**Scrap**" by Blue Stahli. The seconds is "**Awaking the Chaos**" From the BlazBlue soundtrack.**

**First song:** watch?v=wcJE6B-z2dk

**Second song:** watch?v=Tr-PAnhgAhQ

It's been a week since Jaune had to do anything for Cinder and her crew. The three took the time to harass him time to time. Not by words but by their presence. So in hopes of killing the time, Jaune sought the help of Blake with his studying for the days he missed out on.

"Remnant has developed the Hunters system on what year?" Blake quizzed.

"I honestly can't remember that one." Jaune tried to balance a pencil on his nose.

"I can tell by your effort." Blake placed her hand on the table so she can rest her chin. Ruby was studying with them as well but decided to take a nap. Blake was on top of her classes seconded by Pyrrha then Weiss. She offered to help since Jaune needed to catch up.

"We'll work on that one later." Blake opened another textbook. "How's your time in class going?" See flipped the pages forward to the current chapter Jaune needed to work on.

"Fine, Professor Port and Dr. Oobleck made an outline for me to study. I got it after Port had to tell me of the time when he severed the beak of a Nevermore." Jaune dropped the pencil, it rolled over the table and Blake caught it before it could touch the ground. _Cat like reflexes… pun fully intended_. Jaune chuckled to himself.

"Ok according to the paper you need to understand chapter 5 and 7 by next week. I've got a class starting in twenty minutes so I trust you'll read the chapters?" Blake started to pack her belongings and shook Ruby's shoulder.

"Huh?" Ruby wiped her lips from drool. Her back ached from being hunched over for a while.

"Time to go, we got weapons training today." Blake looked toward the exit.

Ruby got up from her chair and stretched her back. "Alright, let's go." Ruby started to walk. As Blake left the library she dropped a book and didn't notice it. Jaune heard the thud and saw the book on the floor. The cover was '_The Ninjas of Love,_' Part 6 of 13.

"Oh cool." Jaune flicked the pages open and relaxed his back. He started the book since Blake was nowhere to be seen. He kept reading and after the first chapter, she appeared. "What's next?" Jaune lowered the book.

"Such odd reading material, did you get your chivalry from books?" Cinder sat the on the opposite side of the table. She wore the uniform for the school and wore a red undershirt judging from the sleeves. She also wore denim pants for some reason, Jaune didn't see the point.

"Partially, but it's more of me having a guilty conscience." Jaune kept his head still but checked the immediate area of her followers, no one else was here. Cinder was alone.

"The next job is tonight; meet us at the airship docks." Cinder kept scanned his textbooks. "Doing research?"

"For my classes. Will there be a need of heavier armor?" Jaune put the book down and set the title of it downward. Talking tough will be a thin façade for her to see through so Jaune decided to not even try to.

"No, and these are for you." Cinder passed Jaune a folder. Jaune opened it carefully to see several pages of printed paper. Each one of them was for his classes. This would make up for the homework he was falling behind on.

"Thanks, now can I be left alone?" He accepted the papers but had no intention of using them.

"No, I came here because I was bored." Cinder leaned back. Her body language was of comfort. _…Yay me… _Jaune opened another textbook.

"Do you really want to be seen with me? I could drag your reputation down a bit." Jaune made his play.

"Oh really, what's the student body saying?" Cinder's interest was piqued.

_Ah darn, well that backfired_. "The boys say you're pretty but no one is willing to make a move. I try to avoid it because gossip is gossip." _Please go._ Jaune found a paragraph with important notes he needs. Cinder noticed she was closer to his notebook. She slid it closer to him. "Thank you."

"How unsurprising, the thoughts of many will stay the same." Cinder smirked.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night." That came off as mean so Jaune had to think of something quickly. "So where's your team?"

"They're walking around town out of boredom. I don't need to know where they are, just when I need them."

"So that's what people are huh? They're just tools?" Jaune said as he wrote down the note of Beo-wolves clans operating in interest of pack leaders.

"They are for the use of others; we exist to use each other. The job of our _cooperation_ is that similar interest of surviving the world." Cinder spoke calmly. "So what are you working on?"

"How Grimm impacts the world and if they're just evil or misunderstood." The paper would have been a difficult one to tell to the class but Dr. Oobleck was fine with it being just typed.

"Interesting paper, you want me have a shadow writer make it for you?" Cinder looked at her fingernails. Jaune was offended by the offer. Doing the work is what helps you understand the material.

"No need, I enjoy researching it actually." Jaune returned to writing more notes.

Cinder stopped looking at her nails. "Really?"

"Yep, I'd love to see the elephant Grimm migrate across the plains to their known plantation where they conceive their young." Jaune was serious on that thought.

"Well this became boring; remember to meet us tonight before ten." Cinder stood up.

"If you're so bored, might as well check this out." Jaune opened his bag and pulled out a smaller shopping back with a dozen comic books inside. Cinder never read them and so could say anything about them as they were slid across the table.

The first comic on top was named 'Maroon vs Violet,' published by Turkey Teeth.

"No thanks." Cinder kept walking and was no longer in sight.

Jaune shrugged and pulled the comics back to put into his backpack. He remained at the library until it was starting to get dark outside. His scroll beeped with a message. It was from Pyrrha.

Hey Jaune, you ready for more practice tonight?-P

Can it wait 2night? I want 2 wrk on my assignments.-J

Sure, I'll tell the team later.-P

Thx.-J

Jaune closed his scroll. He continued his work; the sun was setting for the longest time as Jaune closed his textbook. Underneath the table was a duffle bag of what he really needs for the job tonight. So with that, Jaune put off his belongings into his locker and made his way to the airship station.

There waiting for him was Cinder and her team. Emerald and Mercury wore nice suits for the job like Jaune. Mercury kept his grey suit as Emerald had a tailored beige suit.

"You debriefed yourself on the job right?" Emerald asked as Jaune walked past her.

"I did, we're breaking a weapons deal. The White Fang is in town and trying to get some illegal weapons from a corrupt division of the military." Jaune sat down and started to put on his gear. He leaned back and placed his armor on piece by piece.

"The trade is going down in a private section of the airport; the White Fang is there already. We take the weapons, then get out as soon as possible. From intel sources, the Fang has been making plenty of power plays." Emerald strapped the holsters of her revolver blades. Mercury did the same with his armor. By the time they were on the outskirts of the airport the team was ready. Cinder stayed on the airship.

"Don't botch this job, Jaune." Emerald clicked the chamber of her weapon.

The airship lifted off into the night sky. The team moved to across the street. Not a driver in sight. Emerald quickly pulled out a pair of plyers. After twenty seconds the gate was wide enough for them to fit through. They're now in the mission area; Jaune took a deep breath and pulled his mask down over his eyes. Jaune double checked his CM901, an advanced model. Although he was adapted to his sword and shield, these missions could be traced back to him. The weapon can shift into a sickle sword instead.

**Play the first song**

Looking around, everyone was alive and not machines. Jaune didn't sign up for this to kill people. The team separated, Cinder would provide sniper support. Jaune was backup, Emerald and Mercury were the ones who really knew the plan. The military was there was well and a man in a suit sold the weapons.

Looking up, Jaune noticed that Fang members patrolling the area. Jaune was hiding behind a dumpster. One member was getting very close. He saw Jaune and the two just stared at each other.

The Fang member blinked and dropped his weapon. "I never wanted to be part of this." The Fang member walked past Jaune and walked away from the corner. Jaune kept staring at the direction the ex-Fang member left.

"Time to move in." Cinder said over the comms.

After Cinder said that there was a flare shot into the sky. The Fang member watched the fire and many thought it was the military making a move. A double cross. Both sides jumped to conclusions as both side started to shoot at each other. The blue flare was used by the fang for them to know when to attack. The Fang Member outnumbered the military as they were wiped out in the sporadic gunfire.

Jaune kept ducking his head out from his location. A Fang member took cover behind a crate in front of Jaune. A perfect shot, Jaune kept watching. The Fang member ducked down to reload his weapon. He looked up and at the moment his head snapped back with his body as well.

Right in front of Jaune was once a living person. The front part of the face was dripping in blood; the head was angled upward to the right. The bullet hole was a perfect circle. The back of the head was a gaping hole. The mask was smashed apart by the bullet as the eyes had a shocked expression. This man's life ended at the end of a gun, Cinder's gun. Jaune checked himself as nothing was on his clothes.

"Get out here Jaune, most of the Fang members are almost wiped out." Mercury shouted. Jaune stood up to walk from his cover, so when he was ready he jumped out and sprinted to better cover. Nothing was left standing. Jaune looked around and saw nothing. Emerald walked past Jaune with her revolvers dripping with blood on the blade ends.

The area is clear. "The call has been made, we have ninety seconds before the police shows up." The team walked into the ware house as thick black cases were scattered about with two semi-trucks with trailers ready to move. Both doors were locked; Both Emerald and Mercury placed thermal dust charges on the doors then blew them open. The weapons were barely placed into the trailers. Emerald quickly began to stuff the weapons with several bags, Jaune did the same. Suddenly the sirens in the distance screeched.

"There is a sting operation, the police are moving in." Cinder informed over the comms. Jaune was passed several bags and tossed them into an alley on the other side of the hanger.

"Hey coward, take this too." Emerald shouted with another bag. It kept that way for thirty seconds.

"Brace yourselves." Cinder stated. Jaune turned around as three SWAT vans parked into the distance. A powerful fear consumed him. Then Jaune watched as a man with his face opened fire onto the machines heading their way. The figure outside blinked and Jaune realized he was in control again.

"Keep us covered, we're gonna move through the alleyways." Emerald shouted as she past him.

The flashes of light cracked with the wizzing of bullets. The machines are there to kill him. _I have to do this, I'm here and right now I NEED TO FIGHT_! Jaune focused his vision on the machines. The police took cover with the machines moving about. Jaune aimed down the sight with a squad of droids. They kept heading towards them but Emerald and Mercury kept to their tasks of stealing the weapons.

Jaune ducked his head down behind a chest high cinder block as three more droids kept firing. Jaune wasn't concerned for anything at that moment, his gun needed another clip. Looking up one droid was above him. Pure instinct took over as Jaune grappled the arm of the weapon and pulled the droid down. When it landed, he summoned all of this strength to twist and twist to snap the head off. The sparks stung his face as he shoved the machine away. Grabbing his rifle Jaune slid the magazine in for it to click. He leaned up to lay more suppressing fire.

Emerald was fed up with the bullets and tossed a bag down the alley. She turned her headset off. "We have a useless moron covering our backs. I don't trust him."

"I don't either but so what if he dies." Mercury chuckled, the two smiled in the thought. He turned his headset back on.

Jaune kept ducking his head from cover; he felt the occasional bullet wedge itself in his body armor. Two more droids walked toward him. Taking aim, he unloaded five rounds to slow the second droid. The gun _clicked_ empty. Jaune tossed his weapon forward to stun the first droid and he tackled it down as he landed Jaune pulled his M92F sidearm to end the second droid and looking down and placed his pistol in the temple area of the helmet. He sent a bullet to the central processor.

There was an occasion ping sound and that was Cinder's sniper fire. _What's a reserved boy doing the stuff soldiers would do? _Cinder thought as she shot a tire of a van entering the AO. (Area of Operation) The van swerved and toppled over.

"Hey Cinder the weapons are in ready to go. How's the coward doing?" Emerald laughed.

"Surprisingly well, now get to the van." Cinder bolted another round out her MSGR. It's a custom weapon she designed of precision sniping, also her favorite toy for these missions.

"Hey Jauney-boy, it's time to move." Cinder peered into her scope.

Jaune panted and noticed the police were starting to back off. He looked down as the machines he fought littered the area and his body wasn't seriously harmed. _How am I alive?_ Jaune pressed his hand on his ear. "Understood, is the van here ready to move?" He crouched and sprinted as fast as he could. Emerald and Mercury burst from the alley to take out another droid squad.

"Come on slowpoke." Mercury patted Jaune's back.

"I'm on the move." Jaune sprinted and stopped by hitting a dumpster. As soon as he did, a frightened moan echoed. Jaune lifted the large door to see the same White Fang member cowering inside. His eyes were red from tears and sporadic blinked.

"Stay inside and don't make any noise." Jaune looked up and around, lucky for him no one was watching. "Don't come out until the morning."

"Why spare me?" The Ex Fang asked.

"You're not stopping me from my Payday. Now shut up." Jaune closed the dumpster.

"Hey dumbass, you're taking the long way." Mercury spoke into the comms.

Jaune didn't respond as he sprinted up the hill to the fence and the other two were there waiting for him. He ducked through the opening and rolled onto the other side and entered the back of the van. "Why couldn't we use an airship?"

"It's because that we want this to look like some local gang move. Most are too stupid to use airships." Emerald cleared up as the van pulled away from the gate in fast speed. Jaune wiped the sweat from his chin. _Can I really do this?_

The driver was the same man who drove the airship but in a ski mask. "Ah shit. We got police airships!"

Emerald lowered her head to see a single airship. "I can't take the highway; it'll be too easy for them to follow us." Their driver shouted. Soon afterwards two police cars were in pursuit.

"They're on us like a fuckin' tail." Their driver made a hard right turn. Dodging cars and eventually they made it to a bridge that was over the highway. The highway was low road, above it was city block. "OH SHIT!" The driver lost control of the van and slammed it a concrete fence. The front end of the van was completely smashed.

Jaune blinked his eyes. His head was against the wall of the car. Looking around, Mercury was rubbing his forehead and shook it. Jaune regained his thoughts then started to move around. Emerald was the first to exit the van.

"There's no one yet. Cinder we need extraction NOW!" Emerald shouted as the two cars from before showed up. The airship backed off as Emerald aimed her pistols at the sky. What took Emerald off guard was the fact the police weren't moving any closer. Instead it seemed like they were being held off.

Jaune kicked the door open and there as an empty street greeted him. He fell to his knees. He stood up and noticed there were white dots moving all around. Then a White Fang member appeared and instead of threatening Jaune; the member instead jumped up to cover a security camera with spray paint.

**Play the song now**

"Uh, guys. We have trouble." Emerald stated as a heavily armored van parked.

The doors popped open a bit with steam seeping out. The doors lit up and a lone figure stood in the center. The figure was dressed in black, wore a white mask, and had crimson hair. "How dare you." The figure walked from the door to the middle of the street.

Mercury grunted as he rubbed his back. "You gotta give him points for presentation." He straightened himself. He bent his legs and stretched.

Emerald shook her head then pressed her hand on her ear. "Cinder, the White Fang's Vanguard is here."

"Vanguard, who's he?" Jaune stood beside them. He took a moment to wipe his face from sweat.

"No one knows his alas is Adam though. He kills in the name of the White Fang. Also, he is here to totally wreck our shit. So for now, we just have to survive." Emerald loaded fresh clips into her pistols.

"That sounds simple enough; except for how complicated it'll be to pull off." Jaune lowered his mask to cover his face.

"There's secondary transport on the way, you three hold off Adam while the driver moves the weapons to where the new vehicle will meet you." Cinder stated. She couldn't help but she kept sprinting over rooftops to their direction. "I'll be there in three minutes."

"Lucky us." Mercury sighed. Adam disappeared; Jaune noticed the same technique used by Blake in her sparring matches. Jaune pressed the button for his weapon to shift. _So he'll be_…

Jaune's weapon shifted into the sickle blade as it clashed against Adam's katana. "Right behind us." Jaune smirked.

"My my, do I finally have a challenge?" Adam mirrored the smirk of Jaune. Both blades grinded together for sparks to dance in front of their faces. Mercury and Emerald came at him on opposite sides. Adam shifted his sword upward for it to have Jaune back off. In a split second, Adam parried Emerald's blades, and he disappeared again. Mercury jumped in as his foot hit nothing.

"What the hell!" Mercury landed.

Jaune knew of Adam's next move. "Look up!" Jaune shouted in time as Adam backed off from the bullets that came from Emerald. If he didn't do that, there would have been two halves of Mercury for the coroner.

Mercury looked down and started to get angry. "How did you know that?"

"The Atlas military developed dust stealth clothing. Adam's here reflects light making it seem like he can go invisible, he's just really fast." Jaune shouted.

Adam appeared again by sliding forward was his sword and was ready to swipe his legs. Jaune took out his pistol with his free hand as he fired it at Adam; he of course deflected the bullets. Jaune ran out of ideas when Mercury stomping the ground for the granite below Jaune to shift as he rose and he jumped forward. It was millimeters from his flesh as Jaune landed on the opposite side.

"I've haven't experience this much fun in ages, who are you?" Adam back flipped to his feet. He walked to his right with his hand on the handle of his blade.

"We're the…" Emerald spoke up.

"Silence witch. I was referring to the one with the moon mask." Adam snapped. His thumb moved around in circles on the top of the handle.

"I don't have a name, sorry about that Adam." Jaune wanted to sound cool.

"You must have a title, because I want to remember this." Adam prepared to draw his katana.

"I guess we'll have to fight each other to find out." Jaune said without consulting his brain.

"Good answer." Adam, dashed forward as his sword was ready to slash horizontally. Jaune braced for the attack as his sickle blade was lifted in a reversed uppercut. It set the katana off course for Jaune to move his blade downward but was halted by Adam's katana.

Jaune recalled all the training from Pyrrha, Blake, and Ruby. They fight in a flow, disrupt the flow and they'll have to adjust. _Adam is no different, just keep using uncanny tactics_. Adam threw a blue flash grenade to blind anyone who looked at it. Then in that instant Jaune felt a tug on his stomach.

Looking down, Jaune saw the Katana slash through his armor but barely pierce the skin. He could tell by the cut and how it burned like a paper cut. It was a warning cut. Jaune looked up again to see Mercury and Emerald tag teaming Adam.

Mercury jumped up with his right leg ready for a downward crescent kick. Mercury kept her pistols spinning forcing Adam to block the occasional bullet. Mercury came down for the kick but he was too late as Adam lifted his sword to make a gentle cut on the calf of Mercury. "ARGH!" He landed and rolled forward but kept advancing.

Adam back flipped as he was no longer in view. Emerald remain vigilant, Jaune kneeled down to help Mercury on his feet. The three formed a triangle to watch all sides.

From there Adam appeared again and blasted his sword forward tripping Emerald with the back end of the sword. Taking hold of his sheath, it fired several bullets at them. One bullet grazed Emerald in the shoulder. Jaune felt a bullet skid off his mash. But something was off, he could sense it. _Adam can't use projectiles well._ Jaune's sickle formed back into the rifle and he fired several rounds in his direction. Nothing hit him one hit Adam on the shin. But the bullet was stopped completely.

Adam vanished again. _We can't stop him._ Adam appeared again with his sword inches away from Jaune's mask. "That was a great challenge." He smiled again. For some reason, the area around them began to heat up. Flames erupted around Jaune as Adam was caught off guard then jumped away.

"Hey Jaune, the van's here!" Emerald shouted as she jumped in with Mercury. The sirens in the distance started to blare again.

"Damn, I'm out time." Adam sheathed his sword again. "That was a good fight; I look forward to our rematch." Adam disappeared.

"Jaune, move." Cinder ordered. Jaune stood up and walked to the van. He entered it as the weapons were neatly stacked as their driver was in the front. After twenty minutes, the driver had the team successfully avoid the police. Jaune took his mask off; he started to calm down as the van stopped moving. The doors open with Cinder waiting outside.

"A close one, right everyone?" Cinder turned around as the three of them exited the van.

"Too close." Mercury forced a smile through his pain.

The driver jumped out of the van and walked beside the van. "Nice job everyone."

"He's outlived his usefulness, Emerald?" Cinder spoke calmly.

With that, Emerald stood straight and with one swipe the driver's throat was open as the man scrambled on the ground and stopped moving after ten seconds. Jaune's eyes widened.

"Before you ask the why. This man here sold us out." Cinder leaned her head back. "It was either you or him. He showed his true colors so no need to worry." Cinder walked to opened doors then sat down at the end of van.

"So what about the body?" Mercury had all the weight on one leg as his aura started to heal his wounds.

"I have contacts coming to move the van and dispose of the body. We're done for tonight." Cinder walked from the van and closed the doors. "Come now Jaune, we'll return to Beacon together."

Jaune looked down at the body. A life that is was no longer needed. _What did I get myself into_?

**The chapter was hot and ready for you. I hope you liked the action in this chapter with Adam. I hope you also enjoyed the music, I thought it fit the situation. Anyways, please tell what you think and have an amazing day.**

**Lucio BetaBlake: **Thank you saying it is interesting. I hope you like this chapter.


	5. Chapter 5, Escalation

**Hi everyone, thank you for returning for another chapter.**

Jaune walked past the body of the man and turned to Cinder. All the words came rushing to his head as he said nothing. He walked beside the criminals and kept his eyes forward but didn't register what he saw. It was a just a the side of a brick building.

"So Jaune, how did you know how to fight Adam so well?" Mercury gently tapped his shoulder. The job tonight may have gone much differently without Jaune's help. Mercury didn't have any previous malice like before the heist began. Jaune didn't know what to make of it, was it respect?

"Just training mostly, also Adam seems to be a predictable fighter." Jaune admitted as his mind returned from space. During the walk down the dark street a limo was waiting at the end for them, under the street light. The limousine was pure white with red interior.

"What's this?" Jaune blinked.

"Eh, just wanted to go home in luxury is all." Cinder smirked. Jaune didn't say anything as he walked to the far back passenger door and opened it for everyone.

"Why thank you." Emerald punched Mercury in the arm. "You can learn a thing or two from him." Mercury feigned pain in his arm and gave a friendly smirk to Jaune. His expression of that of '_Thanks a lot_.'

"Yeah right." Mercury entered the car. Inside was a black seat with dim blue-purple lights. Cinder was the last one to enter the limo. She was content with the outcome of how tonight's heist went.

"I'm going to find my own way back to Beacon." Jaune said as Cinder passed.

"Fine, here take this." Cinder had 500 lien in her hand. She sat in the seat and looked up to Jaune.

"Sure." Jaune took the money then closed the door, the limo drove off and Jaune watched as he walked along the sidewalk. He took out 10 lien for the bus and public airship; he put the rest of the lien in his back pocket. The town was pretty this time of night; the lights over the city had variety, salesmen projecting false happiness, and citizens in bliss. He kept walking around for twenty minutes and ignored his scroll ringing. He didn't look at the call ID and found a nice place to sit down. A bench that wasn't in the way of the people passing by, he kept his slow pace and sat down.

As he sat there, he watched people walk by without a care for the world. Atlas is here ready to declare martial law, the Grimm is still harassing the borders, and there aren't enough Hunters being trained to handle it all. _What I am supposed to do_? Jaune looked up with a neon light in the shape of smiling bowling ball.

"Jaune, What are you doing here?" A feminine voice called. Lifting his head, Jaune saw Weiss with several shopping bags. From the looks of them, they didn't belong to any store chain because the lack of logo.

"Hey Snow Ang- Weiss." Jaune cut himself off.

Weiss did a brief laugh. "What brings you here?" She sat down with the two small bags by her side.

"Nothing really, I just wanted to clear my head." Jaune gave some false confidence in his voice. He usually spoke that way so his worry slipped past Weiss.

"Oh, I just never saw anyone form either of our teams here, so I got curious." Weiss looked out to the people. Jaune fixed his posture then leaned over to get a look at her bags. She noticed his gaze.

"This district has a unique dust shop. There they sell dust mixed with other basic chemicals. They aren't bad or anything. I just wanted to do more dust experiments for personal study." Weiss set her bags down.

"Is that why there was a crater in the middle of Beacon's walkway?" Jaune smiled.

"Hey that was all Ruby and not me." Weiss frowned making Jaune laugh.

"Right and all those dust cases were conveniently there for her to sneeze on." Jaune prodded Weiss.

"Whatever, well just forget that I tried to say hi." Weiss stood up.

"You know I'm kidding. You hang out with Yang all day so you should be used to it." Jaune deadpanned.

"She does get tiresome at times; well I must bid you a due." Weiss picked up her bags.

"Right you don't want to be seen with a loser like me." Jaune waved her off. Weiss rolled her eyes and blended into the crowd then disappeared. Jaune chuckled to himself and knew feeling sorry for himself won't make anything better so he made his way to the closest airship station to return to Beacon. It was on the last three flights so he got there in the nick of time. The ship lifted off as Jaune watched the shattered moon glimmer amongst the clouds. He felt a peace whenever he watched the moon, he doesn't know why and he didn't want to.

The airship landed with him slowly making his way to the dorms. He checked his scroll to see a message from Blake.

I can't help tonight; my class gave me a major assignment.-B

Jaune texted her back. No problem, I'll be fine.-J

The walk to the dorms was brief as the lights made the whole school seem as it was in some sort of stillness. He walked to his dorm, the halls echoed his every step and he used his key to unlock the door. Nora and Pyrrha were sleeping as Ren was awake with a small lamp and more of Jaune's comic books.

"Study hard?" Ren asked as Jaune started to undress to change into his onesie.

"Yeah." Jaune said when he was fully changed. He lay down and drifted to sleep.

BEEP BEEP BEEP. Jaune's tired mind was torn from its trance for the room alarm clock. Every time this happens the team wouldn't move until one of them would be annoyed enough to press the snooze button. Everyone except Nora who could sleep through an explosion. Jaune moved his legs as Pyrrha jumped down from her bed to press the button.

Everyone got up for the day and it was Pyrrha's turn to try to wake up Nora. Ren and Jaune left for the cafeteria.

"So, how's everything going?" Ren yawned into his hand.

"Not bad, Mr. Oobleck wants me to type a report for him." Jaune kept walking and halted at the sight of Mercury and Emerald down the hall.

"What's wrong?" Ren stopped as well. He looked at the same direction at the others.

"Nothing, I just forgot something." Jaune was ready to turn around.

"Don't worry; I can message Pyrrha with my scroll." Ren held his scroll up as Jaune noticed Mercury and Emerald walking his way.

"What's wrong Jaune?" Ren stepped into his way.

"I uh-" Jaune's back felt the pressure of a hand. "Meep." Jaune squeaked as he turned around to see Mercury and Emerald walk past him. Both had calm expressions and didn't have an expression of harassment.

"Was that it?" Ren blinked. "I know the competition this year will be stiff but there's no need to be scared." He walked on so Jaune followed.

"Sorry about that, I've been nervous about failing." Jaune gave half of his worry.

"Oh, well I can help you whenever you need it." Ren smiled.

"Thanks." Jaune gave a half laugh as the tension eased from his shoulders. The two made it to the cafeteria. Blake and Ruby were already there. Soon everyone else came and the day went off without a hitch. The classes moved on as they normally did until lunch.

"Did you hear about a possible gang war brewing between the White Fang and some other factions?" Yang lead on the table. The group was in the middle of idle conversation instead of complaining about school life.

"No, what happened?" Blake asked as she kept staring her book. He bow twitched as she can still listen and read.

"Some weapons deal was going down at the airport but a third party came in a wretched everything." Yang made a devious smirk. "Nothing is known about third party but the media dubbed them as the _Payday Gang_." Yang scanned everyone's expressions.

"The Payday Gang?" Weiss raised an eyebrow.

"Yes you broken record. They operate in a small team wearing masks, have military-weaponry, and have knack for tough jobs. A survivor of last night's event had one of them said the word 'Payday' hence the name. Also, I heard that the masks is what makes them scary. You know a symbol of power."

"Hiding behind a mask, what cowards." Weiss scoffed. Everyone at the table had mixed feelings about the whole affair.

"The masks are just masks; there isn't any real meaning behind them." Ruby crunched on a cookie. Her lunch was the largest among the two teams.

"That is just you under thinking it. Those thugs need to be taught a lesson of society; I'll have my rapier ready in case we ever run into them." Weiss frowned and was slightly excited on the thought.

"The Payday gang, a name of strong money seeking mercenaries. Now that sounds like a group that isn't hiding anything with the masks." Ren thought out loud. Jaune remained quiet on the conversation besides giving the generic responses.

"You know their bad and should be treated like such." Jaune deadpanned. He remained in false confidence, but everyone as already familiar with that trait a long time ago. He inhaled his food and made sure to leave before he gets asked the challenging questions. As Jaune stood up he came across Neptune and Sun. Two transfer members of another team.

"Neptune, Sun." Jaune bowed. Neptune is the kind of guy who just loves to be cool. Saying that doing nice things is lame. Doing schoolwork is lame. Everything's lame. _If the world is so lame, why bother complaining and become a shut in?_ Though Jaune did admit, his wardrobe was cool along with his goggles. _Well whenever I try helping people I just get stuck in odd situations._ Jaune made a slight nod to himself from his thought. Like the time, I learned that my oldest sister's boyfriend cheated on her with another girlfriend and Jaune was labeled as a liar. She learned the truth two weeks later.

"Nice to see you too Jaune." Sun patted Jaune's shoulder as he walked past him. Sun was a person who seems to be on terms with himself. A Faunus proud to be a Faunus… and his abs._ I know in Vacuo the people aren't formal but still, we get it. You're proud of your physic._ Jaune grinded his teeth for a moment before he put the rest of his scraps into a trash can. _Both are still good people, these are just the thoughts of a loser who doesn't offer much._ Jaune wanted to sigh but he saw the smiles on team RWBY and JNPR's faces when the duo started talking to them.

Jaune knew about the potential of his actions could do. _I'm not worth saving, but my team is._ The notion was furthered as Mercury walked beside him.

"The Payday Gang needs to discuss our next move."

"Sure." Jaune kept looking at everyone and walked to leave the dorm. Both of them walked to the main doors and Jaune opened it and kept it open for other people before moving on. Mercury watched Jaune with his arms crossed.

"Playing the chivalry card too much and people will think you're a moron." Mercury lifted his crossed arms in the shrug.

"People can think whatever they will. No need to worry there though, because with chivalry… I'm bringing it back." Jaune pointed his finger with he a teeth exposed grin.

"God, you're such a loser." Mercury separated his arms and started to walk.

"… I know…" Jaune dropped his smile. Down the path, the cafeteria doors opened up to see Jaune with Mercury. The figure watched as the two walked to the transfer dorms.

"Where are you going?" The figure frowned.

Cinder's dorm room, twenty minutes until lunch ends

The door opened and inside was Emerald and Cinder. Both of them sitting down with a plate of sliced cake. There was no more as the rest of the cake wasn't in sight.

"Alright Boss, Jaune's here." Mercury walked to the opposite side of the table to get a decent overview of the room. Jaune remained standing in the center of the room at attention to Cinder.

"Last night's job went splendidly. So now that the White Fang has been weakened, we need to do the same for the strongest gang in Vale." Cinder carefully cut a piece of cake with her fork.

"And that gang is?" Jaune left the sentenced unfinished on purpose.

"Junior's gang. A sorry excuse of a gang. To hurt them, we need to hit them where they live." Emerald spoke up, Cinder made a slow glare at her. Emerald wasn't afraid though. The two were beginning to have fun in making Jaune attempt to be a mind reader.

"Have you ever heard of The Tasteful? It's a nightclub downtown. That location is the base of operations, a fortress that stores it's profits deep inside. In one month, we're going in and cause some chaos." Mercury interjected. He leaned in and snatched Emerald's plate of cake.

"I didn't come across this in the documents you gave me." Jaune recalled his studies of the paperwork. He answered his own question as he asked it. _Like they would tell me everything… idiot._

"It's about trust. Trust is difficult to build and easy to break. The thing about this task is that we need information. So before we he hit the nightclub we have to do a favor for one of his Lieutenants wants some compensation for his assistance." Cinder watched all of Jaune's movements. Body language says much about a person and Cinder will have no weakling ruin her plans.

"Don't you have some money left over from the bank job?" Jaune learned he needed to be careful in asking for information.

"We invested it for another task later on. So I need you to take care of this. The three of us have other matters that need attending." Cinder watched Jaune's expression remain blank. Before he could protest, the door to the room opened, and in walks a young woman with an umbrella.

"Jaune, this is Neo, she'll help you in this task. As for the rest, you need to take care of."

Jaune took a good look at the girl. She wore black gloves, white jacket with pink cuffs and collar. The white shirt was a crop top as below it was a black undershirt. The crop top had a cap like quality was it hung below her black boots. Her hair was different colors at the seams as the left side was pink and the right was a dark brown. Her eyes were of different color as one was a light violent and the other was pink. She blinked and the color of her eyes swapped. _Neat trick_. The cherry on top was the creamy umbrella she had in her hands. Her skin was a fair pale shade. She was indeed very beautiful.

"Pleasure to meet you." Jaune offered his hand. Neo looked down, back at him, and turned to Cinder.

"I know, he doesn't seem like much but I still want you to follow his orders." When Cinder finished speaking she turned to Jaune then made a light bow.

"Do you have the scroll we gave you?" Mercury asked.

"Uh, yeah." Jaune pulled out the second scroll and lightly tossed it Mercury. In his hand was a tiny sim card and slid it into the scroll then tossed it back to Jaune.

"There is a variety of contacts that can help you. So now you just need to figure it all out now. Just remember you need to raise 50,000 lien in a month, got it?" Mercury wasn't speaking in anger but with a hint of hope. As much as it pained to admit it, Mercury had started to respect Jaune after last night's job. This wasn't out of attraction just giving a little bit of false hope to ease the tension.

"You're also being given, 15,000 lien for the task. It is not wise to use it to run off, remember that." Emerald placed her right hand on her revolver.

"Understood." Jaune lied. _I was just given a job, a helper, money for expenses, and a contact list of shady individuals. This gone from crappy to FUBAR. _Jaune placed the phone in his back pocket. "Is there anything else I should know?"

"No, that is all. Remember, one month. That was the timeframe our contact has given us." Cinder finished her cake.

"Alrighty then." Jaune turned around as Neo followed. The door opened then closed. Jaune walked down the hall as Neo walked behind him in confidence with her trusty umbrella.

Jaune stopped and so did Neo. "What's you alas here at Beacon?" Jaune needed to know.

She held her umbrella with one hand then reached in her pocket. She pulled out her wallet then showed her student ID. It read as her name was Neo Frost, a freshman, and is her for the tournament at the end of the semester. Her team remained in her homeland as she traveled to Beacon alone. Everything checked out of what he needed to know.

"Okay Neo, pleasure to meet you." Jaune opened the last door as walked into the sunlight.

Above was Emerald and Mercury, they watched as Jaune was talking to Neo.

"We have enough lien to do the Nightclub job now, why wait on him?" Mercury asked.

"Cinder wants to test his resolve; he's good at helping in a heist, but what about planning one? That is what we're going to learn." Emerald stated. Mercury nodded and to the two went to do something else.

The Main Courtyard

Neo kept walking as several onlookers watched from afar. Jaune didn't pay them any attention and pulled out the scroll given to him. "Well this escalated quickly."

**You know, this story has become much more. It was going to be just another job the I was planning to end it. But after a bag of goldfish flavor blasted crackers and a can of cherry-coke, I had a massive brain storm to add to this story. So Jaune has to continue to work for Cinder and is tossed into the fire. Will he bake or figure something out. It's so exciting. I also change the title to relate better to the story. Please leave a review and have a great day.**

**Lucio BetaBlake:** I always address reviews in my stories because there could be another reader with a question or thought similar to the reviewer. I'm just answering for everyone no matter what the review is about. Thank you for enjoying the story so far. Have an excellent day.


	6. Chapter 6, Technician Ally

**We've seen how deadly this game can be. Jaune is stuck between a rock and a hard place. I love it. Let's continue.**

**Edit: I read the chapter and by god, it was cringe worthy in several sentences. I think I've addressed the issues.**

3 hours later since the meeting with Cinder

Jaune looked up as there with the glares from several students as he sat in the dorm with his new companion. _Should I make a joke and call her Minion?_ She sat there looking around then made a brief smile. It was a too perfect; something about her smile had Jaune felt uneasy about her but now it not the time. _Calling her minion is a horrible idea_.

His classes ended for the day as his team were had other instructors to see and RWBY is off on an assignment to kill some Grimm at the borders. So that means for several hours Jaune and Neo will be alone to plan their next move. Jaune didn't have the slightest idea on what to do first.

"What do you think we should do?" Jaune asked as Neo twirled her umbrella.

Neo turned to him then blinked.

"I was thinking about hitting a series of gas stations and then visit the towns close by to do the same thing."

She blinked.

"Terrible idea, terrible idea. You're right." Jaune's mind constructed Neo's thoughts for him to keep some of his own sanity. "The banks close by probably stepped up in security from my team's job last month. So we can't do that. Hmm." Jaune kept thinking and thinking.

She blinked again.

"How about a Jewelry store?"

Neo nodded her head to the left then right, her eyes looked toward the ceiling. It was a maybe gesture.

"Yeah, Jewelry does sound like a simple job but it's the best we got." Jaune turned away from his desk while on it was the scroll and papers given to him. There was the 15,000 lien for his task. If Jaune checked out some lien from his personal savings there will be an additional 3,000 lien to add to the pool. A total of 18,000 lien for him to truly work with. Neo kept looking over the documents as Jaune was ready to tear his hair out. There was a tap on his shoulder.

Neo was looking over the documents and Jaune walked with her to assess the situation. Both of them kept thinking for twenty more minutes. Jaune was looking through the documents and below there was a newspaper of the Remnant Herald. On the front page was a picture of an art gallery grand opening. Inside was a new paintings from the world over. Jaune and Neo realized what they should do.

"Do you want a pizza?" Jaune asked with Neo responding with a light nod. He dialed the numbers and placed an order for a pepperoni pizza with a side of bread sticks. He closed the window on his scroll then turned around.

"We're going to hit the art gallery." Jaune spoke coldly. Neo watched then gave a strong nod.

"Before we go, I need to know, what can you do?" Jaune was worried about over stepping his boundaries. Neo stood straight then with her right index finger she gave her temple two light taps. She then closed her umbrella then gave a 'come at me' gesture. Jaune caught on then charged her. In a moment she leaned back then twirled around him then pushed him to the ground. Her boot was at his throat. After she finished she then offered the end of her umbrella to help Jaune to his feet. After that Neo walked to Jaune then walked to the opposite side of him then revealed his wallet in her hands. When she finished she looked at Jaune then bowed.

"You assess the situation, you're great at hand to hand, and can gain access to anywhere because you can pickpocket people. What about weapons?"

Neo smiled as she tugged the handle of her umbrella to reveal a steel sword. When Jaune got a good look at it, she sheathed her sword then made a gun shape with her hands. The index finger pulled an invisible trigger then her hand formed a ball then her fingers spread out.

"You have a sword and you prefer to use shotguns." Jaune learned all he needed. She would be the Enforcer if the task at hand would be too heavy in combat. It was a little crazy to think so, but Jaune concluded he would be a Mastermind of this upcoming heist much like Cinder. Jaune shook his head; _I'm nowhere as bad as that vile fiend_.

By the time the two began to sort the details there was a knock at the door. Neo arranged the paperwork, and she placed the contacts scroll in her back pocket. Jaune opened the door to see a teenager in a pizza delivery uniform. He was a young man with a narrow expression and he looked to be bored.

"A delivery for a Mister Arc?" The boy asked.

"That's me." Jaune was pulling the lien out of his back pocket. Jaune remembered this teen. He's a student here at Beacon as well. He and his team are upperclassmen by a year. _I just can't remember his name._ The team is a bunch of heavy hitters though this guy here is usually left out in the missions. Jaune passed him the money.

"Thanks if you please sign here and write down my name. It's an assessment piece my employer is doing. It's stupid I know."

"No worries, what's your name?"

"Tomas Wolfe." The young man had small gruff on his chin with his eyebrows naturally narrowed slightly. His eyes were of a darkened hazel and he stood almost as tall to Jaune. The bulk of the student was slightly slimmer to Jaune's.

"Alrighty then, here you go." Jaune passed the paper back to Wolfe. He accepted it then tipped his hat at Jaune. To surprise the delivery boy, Jaune paid Wolfe with a hundred lien tip. _Eh, could brighten up his day._ He closed the door and the steamy pizza with Neo sitting down licking her lips.

The two began snacking on the pizza. "So now that we got a target in mind. Because considering how we didn't talk about it. We had the same thought on the Art Gallery right?" Neo was passed a slice with a paper plate and fork. She nodded when it reached her. "Okay good."

"So what do we need? I mean a bank is one thing but a gallery has to have the same if not better security." Jaune gnawed on his slice. Neo shrugged then pointed to all the corners of the room. Jaune looked everywhere she said but nothing was there. It took a moment, and then realized what Neo meant. _So we need to case the place, determine what we'll need, have an extraction plan, and find a buyer. How the hell am I going to do that!? _Jaune swallowed the last bite of his pizza.

Neo waved then pointed at her forehead then pointed downward then up. She was telling Jaune to relax. He took a deep breath.

"I'm not the best under peer pressure." He admitted. So with the basic plan in mind the two agreed to end it for the day. As Neo left the dorm, a friendly Valkyrie walked in a moment after.

_Ah darn…_ "Hey there Jaaaauuuunnnneeee." Nora spoke with a wide grin. She hopped in front of him so he couldn't avoid her.

"Who's the pretty girl?" She leaned in closer to his left shoulder.

"A friend who is helping with my studies, nothing more, nothing less, alright?"

"But you already have Blake, Pyrrha, and me. All of us can help you study." Nora walked to her bed then started to search for something.

"I know, but I hate being a burden on everyone else. I'm still trying to figure all of this out, alright?" Jaune was telling part of the truth. It must have worked as Nora's expression shifted to calm as well.

"Okay Jaune, I trust you. It's not like I'm telling you that you can't have other friends outside of your team." Nora said as she found her lucky purple pen. That pen is her supposed good luck charm for class. She spotted the pizza then snatched the final slice. She placed the pen in her pocket. "I was just looking for this. Good luck, Jaune." Nora smiled as she left the dorm.

Jaune looked down as he hated that phrase. _I trust you._ That one line pierced the essence of his soul causing the invisible boulder on his back to double in size. He carefully hid the documents within his papers for class and kept the contacts scroll in his under jacket pocket. Looking through the newspaper there was an article saying the gallery will be opened that night for a fee of 50 lien. Jaune thought nothing of it and walked to the airship station.

He walked down the gallery as everything was completely new to him. He noticed cameras and circular holes in front of the display cases of the paintings. He stayed there for two hours and remained silent as the people swarmed around him. He shook his head and left the gallery. _I have no idea on what to do_. Jaune didn't want to succumb to the pressure of the task.

He exited the gallery, learning little to nothing. At the steps was Neo with her trusty umbrella. She opened it and lifted it over him.

"Thanks Neo." He sighed. _You can do this, Jaune. _

On the walk back, nothing happened as Neo remained silent to everything Jaune said as the two made their way back to Beacon. _How can we do this with just the two of us?… Wait a second… It doesn't have to be the two of us…_ Jaune smiled and turned to Neo.

"We need to find someone to join us but has the expertise for the task." Jaune spoke quickly but Neo still understood most of what he said. "Neo, what we need is a Technician."

Neo raised an eyebrow in response. She pulled out her wallet then shook it.

"I know it'll be tough, but if we paid her or him when we get the cash we need then we'll be okay. I'm not a genius but I think it's a decent idea." Neo stared at him blankly.

"Come on, we need to figure out who'll help us."

The two returned to Beacon then walked into a secluded corner of the library and the two began to screen and read of all possible candidates. There were about two dozen and after three hours the list was narrowed to four.

"As much as I hate to admit it, what we have is Neptune, Dove, Mercury himself, and Ruby as our potential Technicians. I really don't want to ask any of them." Jaune opened the scroll display to see if any of the names had 'Available for hire' under their name. Sadly, none of them were.

"Eh at least the idea was a decent one." Jaune leaned back on his chair. Neo hand her hand on her chin without hiding the fact she was bored. The in the corner of her eye something moved. She blinked then tossed a pen like a stiletto. The a figure stood at attention and stood still as Neo made her approach. Jaune scrambled all the papers together in a folder. _I really hope it's not who I think it is_. The individual came into view as Neo pulled him by the collar. The person was Tomas Wolfe. Jaune was relieved to know it wasn't someone he knew.

"Ugh, hey Jaune. I wasn't trying to spy on you." Wolfe nodded quickly damning himself on being loose with words.

"What brings you here?" Jaune kept his head still as his eyes scanned the area. Neo did the same and her blank expression turned to a stern one. It was her way of saying there was no one else around.

"Sorry Jaune, I wanted to thank you on the tip you gave me last night on the delivery." Wolfe eyes widened while being man handled by Neo. "I didn't hear anything, I just got here." Neo looked at Jaune, she frowned. Jaune nodded then Neo shook his collar.

"Okay okay, I overheard that you needed a Technician. I'm the best there is and I'll help you." Wolfe pleaded.

"So what do you know because if you lie to me one more time, I can't be held responsible for what happens next." Jaune bluffed.

"That's all I know, I swear." Wolfe would continue and Jaune didn't want to destroy another man's pride.

"Fine, you said you're a Technician right, just how good are you?" Jaune asked.

"Well, I'm pretty good, I constructed all the weapon mods for my team. In childhood, I had too much time to myself so I learned how to work on anything. Drills, computers, cameras, and anything else. Not the best resume but since when could anyone give a perfect one?" Wolfe chuckled nervously.

"Neo please release him." Wolfe's feet dropped to the carpet. He didn't take the time to adjust his collar.

"The last thing I learned it that you guys are members of the Payday Gang." Wolfe exhaled but the tugged at the collar again. "Before you found me, I used my scroll to hack your scroll. That contact list has a lot of dangerous people. Listen please, I can help you. I know that we just met but I think there is a real opportunity with you guys… and gal. Just give me a chance."

Jaune stood there for what seemed like an eternity. _This is a little too good to be true, I'll just roll with it for now_.

"Neo, I guess we found our new member. Welcome." Jaune shook Wolfe's hand. Wolfe smiled then it quickly faded as Neo shoved him aside.

"Thanks so can I use my scroll real fast?" Wolfe fixed his collar.

"Be careful in what you do." Jaune said as Neo turned around to stare at him.

Wolfe nodded then called someone over his scroll. "Hey boss, I quit." With that Wolfe closed his scroll turned to Jaune. "Now I have all the time in world."

"Wow, you're gutsy." Jaune smiled.

"I've wanted to do that since day one." Wolfe smiled. "So what do you need?"

The Next Day, Lunchtime.

"Hey Jaune, you going to sit at the table?" Ruby asked as Jaune walked with her.

"I'd love to but I'm meeting up with some other friends, sorry." Jaune kept walking to the toward the doors leading to the gardens.

"That's great, don't worry about us. Go meet other people." Ruby shooed Jaune away.

"Thanks for understanding, see you later Ruby." Jaune jogged on ahead with his plate in hand to meet Neo and Wolfe in the courtyard.

Jaune met the other two under a tree as lunch went on. "Thanks for doing this Wolfe, what did you find out?" Wolfe ditched class last night to visit the gallery then he compiled a list of what kind of security they'll come across and what to prepare for.

"Alright, the place is under the typical GenSec security with armed guards walking sections of the gallery. The cameras are civilian models, so there's no need to worry on night or thermal vision. The main server and security room are one and the same. If we get into the security room, then we can steal as many paints as we could carry. The thing to worry about is the automated security bots, they sent signals to law enforcement at confirmed threats, while the guards use their radios to inform the security room. Those holes by the paintings are steel bars to lock in place to prevent theft when the alarms are triggered. Moving on, we need two thermal drills for us to break in to the security door if things get hairy. I can build two by tonight, but I need about 1,000 lien for the materials."

"Done." Jaune responded without any time to think about it. Wolfe grinned at the thought of doing what loves. Building stuff.

"The standard time for the police to respond to our actions will take about two minutes then we're done for. The guards of the place seemed to have grown into a state of boredom so we can add that to our list of advantages." Wolfe gave the load down.

"So what do we get in and out?" Jaune inquired taking a sip of his drink.

"I don't know, that's your department." Wolfe shrugged.

Jaune placed his right hand over his chin. Then Neo waved at the two of them. She used her fork to point at the ceiling of one of the buildings of Beacon. It had a glass skylight.

"Great idea Neo. We enter through the skylights." Jaune pointed out for Wolfe.

"I took a look at the windows, they're civilian windows, as in not bulletproof. Heh, I'm kinda mad at myself for not realizing that sooner. Now that's settled, what's our extraction plan?" Wolfe turned to Jaune.

"I've contacted a man called Bane and he told me about a driver named Richard. The man is apparently a fearless driver. He wants 6,000 lien for his services and we never contact him again not until we start the heist. Along with our escape, I've called a buyer for the paintings. He had his eye on them for a while and is willing to pay 40,000 per painting. If we just get two at least then we'll have what we need.

"Wow, 40,000. Is it too late to ask for a raise?" Wolfe smiled.

"Yes. You agreed to help for a modest fee, I'll determine the amount if we survive this, alright? The buyer wants to meet in the Lakewood district in a decommissioned train yard for us to do the trade. Richard will be there as well and we'll hopefully bug out before the police retaliates." Jaune responded honestly.

"Sure thing boss." Wolfe leaned his back against the tree they're under.

Neo nodded at the plan. Jaune realized in all of the commotion he just planned out a heist to do with two people he doesn't know anything about.

"So Wolfe, what else can you do besides machines and engineering?" Jaune asked after Neo elbowed him to ask.

"Well, I'm not the best fighter as I was labeled to be the weakest of my team. I'm decent with firearms as my weapon of choice is this." Wolfe lifted his weapon to shift into a Glock 18 pistol with a blade running alongside the barrel of his weapon. If shifted into a Brass knuckles. I'm not saying I'm terrible, just not the best or greatest. I'll keep an eye out for the tech stuff, you make sure we don't get killed in the process." Wolfe said before he took a sip of his soda.

"Why are you helping us out in all of this, if you don't mind me asking." Jaune said as he took a bite of his sandwich.

"Let's just say my team abandoned me and I need the funds. I don't want to talk about, is that okay Boss?" Wolfe's expression narrowed a bit but he wasn't angry.

"No need, seriously, thanks for helping us. It means a lot to me." Jaune spoke from the heart. Jaune appreciated the effort Wolfe provided in less than a day. _Maybe there isn't anything sinister after all?_

"There's just one thing." Wolfe made a sadistic but ironic smile. The kind where you're about to anger someone but you're not sorry for doing so. (Troll face) "I need a mask."

Jaune laughed at the blatant request. "So what kind of designs did you have in mind?"

Outside the Art Gallery, Three days later.

"Alright Payday Gang, I'll be here in the parking lot until you arrive. Just hurry up, I got dinner plans later tonight." Richard shouted from the driver seat of the car.

Neo was first to walk out of the van with her mask of a sad and happy expression. It was split in the center, as the right side was of a dark brown as the left side was of a cool pink. From one training session, Jaune learned that Neo love shotguns. So in the purchase of SPAS-12 with foldable Kevlar, Wolfe modified that stuff together to form an Umbrella shotgun for Neo. A custom compartment was built to house her sword as well. Neo wore a pink and dark brown suit that was split at the seams. The jacket was split in half. The left side was pink, the right dark brown and the opposite sides for her pants and shoes. Neo lifted her Umbrella on her shoulder to make room for Jaune to exit the van in his combat gear.

Jaune's gear was that his right forearm had his shield and his weapon was that of a Vacuo manufactured Knight's SR Assault Rifle. He loaded a fresh magazine into the weapon. Even for this job, Jaune's trusty sword is in the compact form as it is one the opposite forearm of his shield. The Crescent mask reflect off the street lamp. Then behind Jaune was the third member.

Wolfe got himself some fresh clothing for the task with cyan blue suit with body armor. His knees were protected Kevlar straps as well along with shin guards. He was still vulnerable in certain areas, but if functioned for the mission ahead. He secured the ammunition pack at his waist along with unslinging his H&K G36 Assault Rifle. Wolfe took a deep breath of the evening air. With a white and red mask of a demon with its lips sewn shut. The upper half of the mask was pure white as from the bridge of the nose it was crimson red.

"Let's get rich." Wolfe sneered as he strapped his mask on.

**Now it's a crossover. Initially the story was going to be pure Ruby characters but since Wolfe is my favorite class to play as in Payday, I thought why not add him to the story. So now we found out the plan of the this paintings heist, what will happen? I know Jaune is a bit OOC but I hope people will still enjoy the story. As always thank you for reading and please review. Now it is time for my response to the reviews.**

**Meime: **Thank you for the kind words. The plot is still getting started as more will play out in future chapters. I wish to know what the readers think of the story. To have more reviews would be awesome. Have an excellent day.

**Bluere:** I can't really say in what the Original Payday Gang will be doing as it would be spoilers for the story. So please don't hate me for that. With my brainstorm from last week, the thought grew on me to add Wolfe to the story, I hope you'll like him in this story. Thank you so much for reviewing and have a great day.


	7. Chapter 7, Paintings Heist

**Thank you for everyone supporting the story. The Payday Gang was ready to pull off another heist so let's see how it goes.**

The street was vacant and from the windows were several bots and human guards. Jaune tapped a button for the light posts to flicker and turn off for several moments for them to cross with darkness. By first glance, none of the guards noticed the light and by the time it returned the team made it across the lawn. From there Jaune looked at his partners, Neo nodded as Wolfe did a brief wave as he watched their flank. Here is where Neo will enter the building.

Alongside the main lobby was a restroom for the patrons but no door. But a chink in the armor was along the wall was window to air out the bathroom. Neo was boosted up by Jaune and Wolfe. She reached inside seeing no one and continued to squeeze her way through. The windows were a tight fit but Neo made her way through then gave the wall a single knock. The area inside was empty is on standby.

Wolfe then aimed his weapon up and with Jaune behind him; the two proceeded to walk around the building. On the far back, there is a ladder to directly get to the roof. Alone the walls were three cameras but their aimed at the fences ten yards away so being below them is a blind spot. After several seconds the two made it to the ladder. It was sealed with a padlock and Wolfe fiddled with the lock but before doing so, Jaune tapped his shoulder. He looked up as Jaune pointed to the corner, there was a beam of light approaching.

Seeing no more options, Jaune activated his ECM jammer then placed it along the ground to disrupt communication of the closest camera. The two quickly sprinted across the grass to bushes on the outline of the property. The two jumped and watched the guard walk on by. He checked the lock to the ladder and pulled out his pager. He spoke into it but didn't get an answer. Jaune was so focused on the guard he didn't notice that Wolfe wasn't beside him.

A figure approached the guard and with one smack of the stock of his gun, the guard was knocked out, Wolfe waved Jaune over. By the time he got back, Wolfe turned the jammer off.

"Hey, what's going on out there?" A voiced called from the guard's pager, Jaune and Wolfe's eyes widened.

"Come on, pick up the pager." The pager beckoned.

Wolfe looked at Jaune; Jaune looked at the pager then back to Wolfe. Wolfe shrugged as he didn't know what to do.

"Answer the pager; otherwise the gallery will go on lockdown." The pager gave an ultimatum. With a jolt of anxiety, Jaune grabbed the pager.

"It's all good her, I had to take a piss on a bush." Jaune came up on the spot. Wolfe stood there face palming his mask.

"God, these things suck on voices. Copy that, I told you to not drink that soda. Well, the ladder is all clear, proceed with your patrol." The pager called. Jaune and Wolfe sighed.

Jaune looked down at the body of the guard. Wolfe shrugged again then the two grabbed the body. Jaune had the torso, and Wolfe had the legs. Using the jammer again for a moment, the two placed the man in a dumpster. After that matter was taken care of, the two made their way to the ladder. Jaune pulled out bolt cutters then ripped the padlock off the ladder. It opened and the two made their way to the roof.

Jaune watched from above as several bots, guards and cameras shift around. Jaune nodded as it clear for the moment.

Wolfe pressed his finger against his ear. "We're in position." In response on the radio, there was a click of a gun. It was Neo saying she's ready. Jaune unlatched the top of the windows locks. Then above Jaune leaned in as the guards were still away, he then turned his body away from the opening. He guided his legs to fall in the opening so then Jaune used his upper body strength to dangle above the 14 foot drop. Jaune released his grip and Wolfe did the same. This section of the gallery had a complete blind spot to the cameras. The middle was divided by four large walls, to hold more art. Unfortunately, the room was positioned on the opposite side of the building and the security room.

"We're on the move." Jaune spoke softly.

Neo grinned as it was her time to move. From the ladies restroom, it stood on the opposite side of the front desk. There was one guard kicking back reading an X-Ray and Vav comic book. Neo effortlessly snuck to his side. By the time the guard noticed her presence, Neo decked the man.

Searching his security belt was a keycard. The security around here operated with the same keycard code. At the desk was a monitor that was linked to the outside cameras. The inside cameras belonged to the security room. With the key in hand, Neo walked to the entrance of where Jaune and Wolfe were located. The lobby split in two different directions since the gallery was one large circle. At the corner, Neo peeked from cover. A bot stood in the corner. There was no way for Neo to move on. Jaune's forehead of the mask was barely visible. Neo flicked the card along the ground and skid to Jaune's glove.

From now on, Jaune thought that using sweat resistant latex gloves will help keep their identities hidden. Wolfe hated the idea but he still wore the gloves. Jaune noticed the camera starting to shift in his direction.

"Move!" Jaune said leaning his head away from the corner.

Wolfe sat beside him. The two had the key so they made their way to the first section, and then there were trip laser wires. Jaune had three ECM Jammers and first one was almost out of battery. Jaune pressed the button again. Wolfe crossed the beams then Jaune followed. To their right was a guard stand there admiring a painting. Jaune and Wolfe had the chance to move as they were about to, camera shifted to their direction. Wolfe cursed silently. The guard was done watching as was about to turn around.

Jaune sprinted forward and tackled the guard. Before he could speak, Jaune punched the man two times to knock him out. But as he looked up a camera was staring right at him. Jaune sighed.

"Psst." Wolfe called.

Jaune looked at Wolfe, when he did, Wolfe pointed at the wall of the camera as an ECM jammer rolled over. Wolfe tossed a jammer when Jaune reacted. Heeding the warning, Jaune dragged the guard to a corner. It won't be long until someone discovers the unconscious body. The two crossed into the next section of the gallery. They were only one section away from the security room. Wolfe and Jaune spotted three droids in the room. Jaune and Wolfe hid behind a pillar. It would take twenty seconds again before the camera rotates to their location.

Jaune didn't know on what to do, Wolfe clicked the safety of his weapon.

Then in streak of light, a droid toppled over and the torso was separated from the legs. The an umbrella fell down to the helmet of the second droid then with two more strikes all their droids were destroyed.

Jaune and Wolfe used the last two jammers and positioned them to have the whole section seem like a black out.

"Hey what's going on? I got a blind spot and the control console says the droids are offline. Jaune readied his pager.

"Really? I'll check it out." He released the button. They were running out of time and Jaune and Wolfe walked into the other section and then Neo blazingly walked into the open. The boys realized then, Neo cut the feed of the cameras, and knocked out or dismantled the rest of the guards and droids. Jaune and Wolfe made their way to the security door. With a swipe, the door opened with a green light.

Wolfe was the first to enter. The guard there was a busy tinkering with the controls then felt a barrel to her back.

"Don't do anything stupid." Wolfe shove the guard from the controls. The woman blinked and watched from the corner.

"Hey hey, don't look at them, look at me."

"Oh shit! It's the Payday Gang. Please don't hurt me." She pleaded. She appeared to be a woman in her late teens to early twenties. She looked to have been scared. Her pupils widened as Wolfe's mask stared directly at her.

"Just sit down and be quiet." Wolfe barked as he turned the guard around then used zip ties to constrict her arms.

"The guards are down. What about the cameras?" Jaune asked as Wolfe typed away.

"I can erase the data, be all forms of digital media can barely exist. So with our masks, we'll be fine. I'll still compile all the data to be destroyed." Wolfe began to type away.

Neo, please keep an eye on the prisoner, I'll securing the paintings." Jaune set his thermal drill down. His back ached slightly, carrying the thing is awkward. Jaune walked down alongside the paintings. _The buyer wants four but what kind does he want?_

"The guy we're working for? What does he want?" Wolfe asked as he typed away.

"… I honestly have no idea… I forgot to ask." Jaune admitted.

Just grab what you think we need."

Jaune found a painting of a huntsmen standing in a circle with Grimm approaching them. Jaune carefully tugged on the painting then everything lit up and a siren blared.

"You done goofed." Wolfe snickered.

"It wasn't my fault! How was I supposed to know that an alarm will sound? Neo, get ready to fight off the droids!" Jaune shouted. He broke the spine of the paintings to remove the paper and roll it up. Then bagged six of them. Jaune sprinted to the lobby. Then as he arrived, Neo was taking cover behind a piece of art. She looked outside and didn't know on what to do, because outside were several police vans parking outside.

"Aw darn." Jaune slouched then sprinted back to the security room.

Wolfe stood at there and looked over at the security woman. "Did you know about this?"

"No, I was mean to monitor the cameras but there was some new security added that is separated from the main security. Please don't hurt me." The woman lowered her head. Wolfe scoffed as Jaune entered the room.

"Stop traumatizing her and get ready to move." Jaune ordered as he rushed into the room. Wolfe nodded then turned to the woman.

"But I wasn't, ah just forget it…" Wolfe finished talking then Neo entered the security room as well.

She pointed toward the monitors as a legion of machines and police started to stack up outside. As they were distracted, Neo walked to the girl then hit her over the head with her Umbrella.

"Hey hey, I thought we're fine on the brutality." Jaune turned to Neo.

She pointed at the eyes slits, and then did a wave over the room. She told Jaune that she'll see everything.

"… You're right; we go to the backup plan." Jaune turned Wolfe.

"Alright." Wolfe took two paintings, Jaune carried two as well, and Neo carried one. Wolfe activated the glass security as steel fences came down leaving easy access to the building problematic.

The team sprinted furthest wall on the opposite side of the building.

"Hey Richard, we got the goods, but it's time for plan B." Jaune asked as they reached the wall. "You said you packed explosives?"

"Yeah." Wolfe kneeled down then pulled his thermal drill out of his bag the placed it on the wall.

"That'll take too long-" Jaune was pushed back then Wolfe jumped forward as Neo took several steps back. The wall was blown open and left a cloud of dust.

"The drills are also bombs?" Jaune coughed.

"Yeah, what did you think it cost so much?" Wolfe chuckled.

"You got a twist sense of humor." Jaune got to his feet. The team reacted fast enough before the building was isolated. They sprinted across the grass as a fence shattered in splinters as the van made an exit for the team. Neo made it first then ran then watched as the rest of the team entered. Jaune looked down and took a deep breath.

"I can't believe we made it." Jaune exhaled.

"Well we did. Richard, let's go." Jaune suggested and soon the van began to pull out before they were spotted by the police.

The van pulled out then sped off into the dark streets. Everyone remained silent until they could no longer hear the sirens. The team was almost there to the drop point.

"I was wondering why did you get a codename while we just have our names on the line?" Wolfe asked.

"What do you mean? I like the codename Crescent." Jaune smiled under his mask.

"Yeah that's cool, but Neo and Wolf are two simple names." Wolfe pointed out.

"That's true, but your names are so cool already, people will think your actual names are codenames. Neo thinks I'm right." Jaune pointed at Neo. She shook her head left and right.

"… I think it does." Jaune whispered.

"If you fuckfaces get codenames, I want one as well too. I never worked with an established group before. This is kind of fun exciting." Richard laughed. Wolfe looked in Richard's direction.

"Who asked you?"

"Whatever, I was thinking of the name 'Twitch' you know, I think it works for the jobs we're gonna do."

"Sure thing Twitch." Jaune spoke loudly. _Sure having a codename is cool but we need a driver more than anything. Make him fell attached, then he'll provide us with a great service._ Richard chuckled as the pulled up to the train yard. It was once the hub for when Vale tried to expand many years ago. The station served no purpose when it failed, now a ruin with no one wanting to do anything with the property.

"Please hurry this up alright?" Twitch spoke softly.

The team arrived at the designated location. The doors opened and Jaune was the first to exit since he wore the best armor. He wasn't shot or they're waiting for the rest of the crew to get out. Jaune took several steps and found out the location to meet was a derailed train car. Jaune walked inside and as he did, a scroll rang. The ID was labeled as Unknown.

Jaune pressed the button to answer the call.

"Glad to know you made it. So yeah, either you go all the way or not at all. Get all the paintings to the train car and place them on the table at the end." The call ended before Jaune could say anything.

He turned around, and waved at the van. Wolfe and Neo walked out, side by side. Wolfe passed the rest of the paintings as Neo stood outside and watched their surroundings. Her mask provided enough for her eye movements to be hidden.

As Jaune placed the last painting on the table, the scroll rung again.

"Two extra than agreed. We'll take it." The scroll call ended then footsteps thumped across the roof. Wolfe aimed his rifle at the ceiling. A hatch released and a figure stood above.

"Alright, just pass me the paintings and you'll get paid." The figure spoke affirmatively.

Jaune went along with it as he tossed the first painting and after he did a bag of cash dropped into his arms. This repeated for the rest of the paintings. With six bags of money, all were placed on the floor.

"The deal is final; I'll contact you again if I've got a job that needs to be done." Then as he finished talking Neo noticed something odd in the distance. She punched Wolfe and the two looked where she was staring. There was a glimmer. Narrowing her eyes, Neo spotted a droid taking position.

"Aw crap." Wolfe took aim.

"It looks like you were followed. This is where we part ways." The buyer then jumped off the train car and sprinted off into his escape. There wasn't any way for the gang to follow so they prepared for a fight.

"Twitch, the cops followed us, get ready to move!" Jaune shouted as he picked up a bag. Soon bullets erupted from the direction of the droids. Jaune was halted by the gun fire then took cover.

"We can't leave here! Let me drive to the other side and meet you there. This place is a fucking deathtrap!"

"Fine go!" Jaune ordered. _It turns out 'Twitch' is a fitting name after all._

"What are we gonna do boss? There's tons of them out there!" Wolfe took a peek from cover. "It looks like these droids are basic models, so whoever is attacking aren't police."

Jaune looked out and prepped his Knight's SR by checking the chamber. "We give them hell." Jaune ordered as he opened fire.

Wolfe smiled sadistically under his mask. The two began to open fire. Jaune fired in single shots and shot three droids. As that happened Neo was ready for real action as well. She blinked then kicked out a window then she jumped forward. He kept his head down as he pulled the bags of money closer.

Neo stood there as three droids with batons charged her. Neo lifted her Spas Umbrella to blast the armor away to the sparking inners of the first droid. Then Neo plunged the weapon into the machine's chest and lift it up. The second droid aimed for her kneecap. She flicked her leg up to flip the droid and when it landed she speared that on too. The third droid was shot apart by Wolfe's weapon. Jaune covered Neo as he fired his Knight's SR at the droids on the balconies and rooftops.

A brick wall blasted apart as a green bulky droid fired it's AA-12 shotgun.

"Oh no, Bulldozer!" Jaune shouted. He aimed for the head AKA central processor. Neo lowered her captured droids then loaded an explosive shell into her SPAS. With a single blast, the two droids were hurled at the Bulldozer. The dozer was crushed and blown up.

Wolfe smiled at the destruction but then he realized that two black squares were approaching the train car from the right side. "Oh crap! We got two Shield Wielders!"

"Neo, Wolfe, secure the money!" Jaune stood up and slung his weapon to his back and his sword shifted into full form, his shield as well.

"Roger Boss!" Wolfe moved an inch then a train door was pulled back. Neo stood there waiting for the money.

Jaune raised his shield to the bullets coming from the Shield droids. He plunged the sword into the black shield of the droid and destroyed the droid. Jaune realized these shield wielders were all show. Then he sliced the second droid in half.

"We got more company! Neo and I are in the warehouse!" Wolfe shouted into the comms.

"Jesus, you kids love to shout. Twitch here, I'm coming in across the street of the warehouse. I'll be here until you arrive, and hurry up. The police scanner is echoing like crazy."

Jaune ran toward the warehouse to see Wolfe in a taking popshots as Neo was nowhere to be seen. Above them was a second floor railing with droids being blasted apart by Neo's Umbrella.

"She's got this, now move the bags." Jaune shouldered two bags as Wolfe carried two as well. Two more were left behind. They sprinted across the warehouse to find garage door but it was on lockdown.

"Give me thirty seconds, I can hack this." Wolfe put one money bag down and typed away at the locked. It was an automated system, a password is still inside, somewhere.

Jaune lifted his Knight's SR and blasted a head off a droid. He covered fire then in the corner of his eye, Jaune saw two droids making off with their money. The door slammed open with a clean shot to the Van behind a chain-linked fence. Wolfe grabbed his bags and booked it.

"Neo, secure those bags." Jaune shouted again. Neo looked from her position to see the droids.

Wolfe made it across then his weapon shifted into gun form. Then without a hitch, the gate was wide enough for a person. Jaune reloaded his weapon and ducked down. They tossed their bags inside the van and turned around to see Neo gleefully holding her umbrella on her shoulder with the two bags at her feet.

"You're a life saver Neo." Jaune thought out loud. With the money in hand the piled in the van.

"Twitch, get us outta here!"

Twitch didn't say anything and pressed the pedal. The van zoomed off into the streams of lights of the city.

"Oh man, I cant believe we made it." Wolfe removed his mask, then brushed his forehead sweat away.

"Indeed." Jaune panted. Neo twirled her umbrella. They drove for another fifteen minutes as the heisters bodies started to calm down from t excitement. Wolfe kept rubbing his face of sweat.

"We're here kiddies." The location was that of the outskirts of the city with two cars. Each of them walked out to stretch their backs. Jaune remained in the van.

"You guys kicked ass out there, any idea who the third party was?" Twitch asked.

"No idea, but I'm going to find out." Jaune tossed a wad of money at Twitch. He removed a rubber band and his eyes widened.

"Ugh, hey kid but, I agreed for 6,000 not 24,000." Twitch began to wonder if he was being played.

"You could have left us, but didn't. For that, I'm grateful." Jaune lifted his mask.

"Well thank you!" Twitch walked to his van. "If you guys need a driver, give me call. Oh and kid."

"Yeah?"

"Do I get a mask?"

"Sure, why not." Jaune shrugged as he pulled out all the bags of money.

"Fuck yeah!" Twitch entered his van and drove off back into the city. Jaune pulled out more money and tossed it to Neo and Wolfe. Both of them were paid 35,000 lien. They stared at Jaune.

"Both of you did the jobs well. I couldn't have done this without you." The job had earned the team 240,000 lien in the money bags. The cost of paying for help was 94,000 lien, then an extra 60,000 lien in their weapons, gear, and Wolfe's suit. Leaving 86,000 for Jaune to work with, and 50,000 lien goes to Cinder. All that is left is 36,000 lien for Jaune.

"Wow, I really did get my own Payday." Jaune chuckled to himself to see Wolfe and Neo standing there.

"Alright, Neo, you drive the first car. It contains the 50,000 I owe to Cinder. Wolfe you drive the second car as it contains the payments for our debts. Just deliver it to the hideout, I'll handle it from there. I'll contact Cinder to let her know you're on your way, okay Neo?"

Neo nodded as she entered her car. "Wolfe, I'll ride with you until we get to two. I'll take public transportation back to the school." Wolfe smiled as the two entered the car.

Wolfe just sat there. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing… it's just, you have no idea how much this will help me. Seriously Jaune, thank you." Wolfe made a fist. Jaune grinned as they fistbumped Wolfe and Jaune made their way back to the city.

**Yay, if this was the game, this is when you hear the Clean Getaway song. Sorry this took a while, writer's block does that to people. Oh yeah, incase people were wondering about the first driver who died is random, he's not Twitch. Richard in this is real Twitch. For the first guy, I barrowed some dialogue. Thank you so much for reading as this story will continue. Please tell me what you think by reviewing and have an excellent day.**

**Pataponvideo: ** Thank you so much for reading. This crossover happened when I was bored and wrote it out. It's a fun idea and I hope you liked this chapter.

**AnAustralianGamer: **Thank you very much.

**Bluere:** That's a cool thought but no. This isn't that kind of crossover. I think the Payday Characters are cool and all, but this is still mostly RWBY. Thank you for reading

**RyderRosas:** Thank you for the compliment. The first guy was a random driver. I just barrowed some dialogue for the chapter. This guy Richard is the real Twitch. I just wanted to clear that up. I hope you liked the chapter.


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